Stephan Schlegelmilch is a litigation counsel based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group. His practice focuses on leading investigations and litigation involving alleged violations of the federal securities laws, particularly in matters involving accounting and issuer disclosures, digital assets and cryptocurrencies, insider trading, and broker-dealer and investment adviser regulations. Mr. Schlegelmilch regularly advises individuals, accounting professionals and issuers facing investigations and civil enforcement actions brought by the SEC, CFTC, FINRA and PCAOB. He is recognized on Securities Docket’s 2025 Enforcement Elite, a list of “the best securities enforcement defense lawyers in the business.”
Mr. Schlegelmilch joined Debevoise in 2021. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Schlegelmilch was at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Enforcement as a Supervisory Trial Counsel in the Division’s Home Office Trial Unit, where he managed a team of trial attorneys while providing litigation-focused advice and otherwise overseeing numerous matters related to market structure, insider trading, market manipulation and antifraud violations involving issuers, broker dealers and investment advisers. In his role, he first-chaired trials and administrative proceedings for the SEC, and he regularly handled all aspects of litigation brought by the commission, including civil discovery, experts, evidentiary hearings and dispositive motions. He also led and advised on many of the SEC’s early enforcement actions involving cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. In 2021, Mr. Schlegelmilch received both the Arthur F. Mathews Award and the Chair’s Award for Excellence for his accomplishments in litigation for the SEC.
Mr. Schlegelmilch maintains an active pro bono practice, and he is a current member of the William B. Bryant Inn of Court and the Case Western Reserve University Law School Alumni Association Board. Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Schlegelmilch was a partner at a major law firm where he defended clients in diverse white collar and securities litigation matters. And, following law school, he served as a law clerk to Judge John M. Manos in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
Mr. Schlegelmilch is the author of the chapter, “Litigating with the SEC,” in the seventh edition of Practicing Law Institute’s SEC Compliance and Enforcement Answer Book (2025, 2023). He is also an author or co-author of numerous publications, including “SEC Enforcement Actions Fall Significantly As Crypto and Text Message Cases Predominate,” Securities Docket (November, 2024); “The Most-Read Securities Law360 Guest Articles Of 2023,” Law360 (December, 2023); “2nd Circ. Holding Could Disrupt SEC Disgorgement Methods,” Law360 (November, 2023); “The SEC's first NFT enforcement action or just another ICO case?,” Westlaw (September, 2023) and “D.C. Circ. Ruling Could Mean FINRA Hearings Are On Thin Ice,” Law360 (July, 2023).
Mr. Schlegelmilch received his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 2000, and his B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in 1997.