Debra Wong Yang, the former U.S. attorney regarded as potentially the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, would bring a litigator's expertise to the job that could signal the incoming Trump administration is committed to enforcing the securities laws.

Yang, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, would be the second straight federal prosecutor to head the SEC, replacing Mary Jo White, who was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1993 to 2002. Yang was named U.S. Attorney for the central district of California by President George H. W. Bush and served from 2002 and 2006.

Yang's enforcement background sets her apart from other Trump nominees who have been chosen to head agencies with whose missions the new leaders are at odds. Yang, 57, is an award-winning lawyer whose experience running the federal prosecutor's office in California's central district, one of the busiest in the country, sets her up well for the SEC, said Ted Olson, her partner at Gibson Dunn and the U.S. Solicitor General between 2001 and 2004.

"Clients line up to put her in charge of their most serious problems," said Olsen, who described Yang as frank, straight-forward and a fast learner. "Law enforcement is a big part of what the SEC is all about and she is an enforcer."

Several news organizations, citing people familiar with the situation, have reported that Yang is a top pick for the SEC's top spot, and she may also be considered for a position in the Justice Department. Other people who have been reported to be in the running for SEC chief include a former commissioner, Paul Atkins.

Picking Yang would signal a continued focus on enforcement because she is a litigation expert, said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Cowen Washington Research Group.

"We don't see why Trump would install a litigator as SEC chairman unless he wants to see the SEC continue to be aggressive in going after allegations of wrongdoing," Seiberg said. "As a result, we believe the expected easing in the enforcement environment that industry was expecting is unlikely to occur."

During her stint at U.S. Attorney, Yang was described as "tenacious" in one report about her pursuit of French bank Credit Lyonnais over its acquisition of California insurer Executive Life Insurance Co., eventually resulting in a 2003 settlement -- considered a record fine at the time -- requiring the bank to pay a $100 million penalty to the Federal Reserve.

Also in 2003, under Yang, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California joined with the SEC to criminally charge three former executives of Homestore over a scheme to commit securities fraud by artificially inflating the company's ad revenue. The former CEO of Homestore was sentenced in 2010 to 54 months in prison.

On the other hand, there's evidence that Yang may not be as tough of an enforcer as some expect. In 2005, the SEC wrote a letter complaining that Yang and the Justice Department may have been too lenient in its plea agreement with Henry Yuen, the former CEO of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.

The SEC at the time raised concerns with the plea agreement, which reportedly required Yuen to spend six months in home detention, make a $1 million donation to charities and pay a $250,000 fine for obstructing the SEC's probe into a $248 million accounting fraud at Gemstar between 1999 and 2002.

And in September 2005, lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee charged at a hearing that Yang, U.S. attorney at the time, and the Justice Department weren't doing enough to stop the theft of copyrighted music and movies on the Internet, according to Bloomberg News at the time.

"Whatever the message that's going out here is it isn't enough," the article quoted California Senator Dianne Feinstein saying.

Another issue that may arise if Yang proceeds to a confirmation hearing will be that she was part of a team at Gibson Dunn that issued a report in 2014 absolving New Jersey Governor Chris Christie of culpability over a George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal.

To be sure, Yang's lack of experience in regulatory matters likely will mean that she would need time to familiarize herself on a whole host of rules installed in response to the Dodd-Frank Act and 2008 financial crisis before deciding whether to take the kinds of deregulatory actions sought by many Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Many observers expect the SEC under Trump to allow a few high-profile draft rules under consideration at the end of the Obama Administration die on the vine rather than be approved. These include a proposal to rewrite the rules for proxy fights between dissident directors and corporate boards, another that would require big financial firm executives to wait much longer to cash out bonuses and one that gives the same institutions several years to claw back CEO pay connected to misconduct. At the very least the measure's adoptions would be delayed as Yang got up to speed.

"While she is certainly likely to surround herself with a very smart staff, it is unrealistic to expect that she will be able to move as quickly on regulatory relief as someone who is more directly familiar with how Dodd-Frank and other rules impact the financial markets," said Seiberg.

A fourth-generation Los Angeles native who became the first Asian American to serve as a U.S. Attorney, Yang is a single mother of three who's based in her home town. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Pitzer College in Claremont, California, in 1981 and her law degree from Boston College Law School in 1985. Before becoming U.S. attorney, Yang served on the Bush administration's post-Enron corporate fraud task force. Previously, she was a California state judge.