The development of mature B lymphocytes from multipotent progenitor cells requires the co‐ordinated activities of a number of transcriptional regulatory proteins. The transcription factors encoded by the E2A gene are required for the development of committed B‐lineage cells and regulate the expression of essential B‐lineage genes at multiple stages of differentiation and activation. In this review we discuss the evidence that the E2A gene products function in the regulation of 1) transcription factors required for B‐lineage determination, 2) essential proteins involved in pro‐B and pre‐B‐cell development, 3) accessibilty and recombination of the IgH and IgL chain loci, and 4) isotype switching in activated, mature B lymphocytes.