Former U.S. Attorney Debra Wong Yang is reportedly being considered to chair the SEC in the Trump administration. Yang is a partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles where she represents corporate defendants in white-collar crime investigations and compliance matters.

Previously, Yang served as the first female Asian-American U.S. attorney. She was appointed to the Central District of California by Republican President George W. Bush in 2002 and left in 2006 to join Gibson Dunn.

Yang is a longtime friend of Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and donated to his presidential campaign.

If tapped, she would become the second consecutive former federal prosecutor to lead the SEC. Mary Jo White previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Other names that have been floating around include former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, who is helping oversee the transition for financial regulation, and Ralph Ferrara, a former SEC general counsel who is also on the transition team. Unlike Atkins or Ferrara, Yang is not considered to be as deeply steeped in securities regulatory policy matters.

Yang was among the Gibson Dunn attorneys who were hired to conduct an outside investigation into the "Bridgegate" scandal. Their March 2014 report exonerated Christie, finding that he had no involvement in the decision to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey and New York City.

Defense attorneys in the case and local media in New Jersey have raised questions about the independence of Gibson Dunn's investigation, citing Yang's personal friendship with Christie and efforts to raise money for his campaign.