The Securities and Exchange Commission has named its first advocate for Small Business Capital Formation.
Martha Legg Miller will assume the post in January and head up the agency's new Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation, which was created pursuant to the bipartisan SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2016.
The new office provides assistance to small businesses, conducts outreach to better understand the obstacles small businesses face when attempting to access the capital markets, and recommends improvements to the regulatory environment to help facilitate capital formation.
Miller, currently a partner at the Birmingham, Alabama, firm Balch & Bingham LLP, will report directly to the Commission and "work collaboratively with the many staff across the agency focused on helping small businesses access our capital markets in an efficient and cost-effective manner," the agency said.
Since 2012, while at Balch & Bingham, Miller has represented private companies and investors across a spectrum of corporate transactions, including matters related to the financing of small- and medium-sized businesses.
