Sandra Hanna commented on her arrival at Miller & Chevalier in June as practice lead of the firm's Securities Enforcement practice, and discussed current trends in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) enforcement. "On the SEC, it may be that the numbers of cases are close, but the sanctions they are seeking and the kinds of cases they are bringing are much tougher than I’ve ever seen before. For example, if you represent a registered investment advisor with a securities law violation, you are seeing demands for bars against individuals in ways I have not seen before. They are pursuing very aggressive theories and sanctions that are career ending for individuals and perhaps franchise threatening for SEC registrants," Hanna said. "And you are seeing the same kind of aggressive posture at the PCAOB. They have long been considered at least on the enforcement side, a little bit sleepy when compared to the SEC in enforcement matters against auditors. Under Erica Williams, the new board chair, we are seeing a sea change with really aggressive investigations and sanctions by the PCAOB that we have not seen before. For example, they are seeking admissions against auditors and audit firms now."