Jack Wells was a corporate lawyer at the law firm Royall, Koegel & Wells, a firm that later became Rogers & Wells

Rogers & Wells

Rogers & Wells was a New-York based international law firm founded in 1873. After several name changes, it was renamed for William P. Rogers and John A. Wells. The firm was well known for its litigation arm...

In 1972, SEC Chairman William J. Casey

William J. Casey

William Joseph Casey was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to 1987. In this capacity he oversaw the entire United States Intelligence Community and personally directed the Central Intelligence Agency ....

 appointed him to a committee to review and evaluate the Commission’s enforcement policies and practices. Chairman 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 1977 Wells represented Air France

Air France

Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...

 in its lawsuit against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey...

 in trying to get the rights for Concorde flights into New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

's Kennedy Airport.