Jack A. Wells (1908 - April 15, 1980) was an American

corporate lawyer A corporate lawyer or corporate counsel is a type of lawyer who specializes in corporate law. Corporate lawyers working inside and for corporations are called in-house counsel. Roles and responsibilities The role of a corporate lawyer is to ...

at the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, New York-based law firm Royall, Koegel & Wells, a firm that later became Rogers & Wells. From 1941 to 1942 he served as President of the

New York Young Republican Club The New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC) is an organization for members of the Republican Party between the ages of 18 and 40 in New York City. The New York Young Republican Club is the oldest and largest chapter in the United States, founded ...

. In 1972, William J. Casey, chairman of the

United States Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against marke ...

, appointed him to an SEC committee to review and evaluate the commission's enforcement policies and practices. Casey appointed him because he was not a securities lawyer and asked him to be the chairman of the committee, and thus began what we now know as the "Wells Committee". In 1972, the committee proposed the process in which the SEC would notify people or firms ahead of enforcing action on them, also known as the

Wells notice A Wells notice is a letter that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sends to people or firms at the conclusion of an SEC investigation that states the SEC is planning to bring an enforcement action against them. The notice informs t ...

. In 1977, Wells represented the airline

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...

in its lawsuit against the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

in trying to get the rights for

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

flights into New York City's

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...

References

Place of birth missing 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century United States government officials American law firm executives Businesspeople from New York City New York (state) lawyers U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission personnel Wesleyan University alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Harvard Law School alumni 1908 births 1980 deaths {{NYC-stub

See also

References