Recently appointed Regional Director of the SEC’s Central Region, George Curtis is a trial lawyer with extensive experience in complex corporate, securities and accountancy matters. As Regional Director, he supervises enforcement, trial and examination activities by the Commission in a several state region, is responsible for the implementation of Commission policies and plays a role in the development of those policies. His duties also include the well-being and development of an office of some one-hundred plus staff members.

While in private practice with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP for more than thirty years until his retirement, he assisted in the opening of the firm's Denver office in 1981 and served as both Partner in Charge of that office and as a member of the Executive Committee, the firm's governing body. His trial experience ranges from "mini-trials" presented as part of settlement negotiations to the defense of clients in large, complex litigation, including one action which involved a coordinated proceeding of more than 1,000 lawsuits. He has tried cases before judges, juries, administrative agencies and self-regulatory organizations.

Mr. Curtis joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 1976 after graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, where he held a Russell Sage Foundation Fellowship in law and social science. He has a Ph.D. in legal history from the University of Virginia, has taught at that university and at both the University of Southern California and the University of Denver. One of his articles, dealing with an issue of standing, has been cited by the United States Supreme Court.

As a trial lawyer, Mr. Curtis dealt with all aspects of complex litigation and over the past twenty-five years devoted the majority of his practice to cases involving allegations of securities law violations, professional negligence and related causes of action. Mr. Curtis has represented clients before several federal and state administrative tribunals and in grand jury investigations. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the United States Courts of Appeal for the Ninth, Tenth and District of Columbia Circuits. He is a member of the Colorado and California State Bar Associations.

Mr. Curtis has lectured and written extensively. His publications include studies of the concept of auditor independence, the early development of the American legal system during the colonial era, the evolution of the juvenile court movement, and the development of the concept of the state as parens patriae.

Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Curtis served on the boards of several civic and charitable organizations, including the Legal Center for Persons with Disabilities and Older Americans, and the Colorado Legal Aid Foundation. He and his wife, Marion, remain significantly involved in the development of one of the high schools in the Denver metro area. They and their two sons, who are now adults, have lived in the Denver metro area for the past twenty-five years, save for a year spent in San Francisco while Mr. Curtis tried a series of cases related to a major securities fraud.