Overview
Kate manages large-scale regulatory compliance projects for financial institutions and has trusted experience guiding her clients through their most pressing regulatory issues. This experience includes matters related to the development of state and federal law inventories, LIBOR and BSBY transitions, remediation in response to consent orders and other regulatory findings, recovery and resolution planning, and compliance with global shareholding related requirements. Kate also advises institutions on requirements under a variety of state and federal laws and regulations, including the Bank Holding Company Act, Commodity Exchange Act, Dodd-Frank Act, and federal securities laws.
Kate’s investigations practice includes representation of financial institutions in inquiries involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, and financial regulators in other foreign countries. Kate’s experience includes all aspects of an investigation—from scoping and leading wide-ranging communications reviews, to conducting witness interviews and representing witnesses in government interviews, to engaging in oral and written advocacy before federal agencies. Kate also has conducted internal investigations across a range of industries involving the same types of responsibilities, as well as reporting to senior leaders and boards of directors.
Through her regulatory and investigations representations, Kate has developed an in-depth understanding of her clients’ businesses, products, processes, and structure, as well as relevant jurisdictional and other regulatory considerations impacting their operations globally. Her clients value her ability to draw on this knowledge to offer practical guidance that is tailored to their unique circumstances and accounts for the priorities of their stakeholders.
Kate began her career as a litigator and has experience assisting clients in a range of commercial disputes in federal and state courts, including matters involving breach of contract, business torts, breach of fiduciary duty, and federal securities laws. She also maintains a pro bono practice that has involved representation of clients in state court housing matters, federal court trials in Section 1983 civil rights matters, and drafting of state complaints related to special education issues.
Prior to joining the firm, Kate was a litigation associate in the New York office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.
Representative Experience
Kate’s regulatory compliance and advisory experience includes:
- Advising a U.S.-based global financial institution on global shareholding-related regulatory requirements.
- Advising two U.S.-based global financial institutions on their recovery and resolution planning, including development of supporting playbooks.
- Developing, and managing teams of attorneys preparing, state and federal legal inventories for a global financial institution and two large regional banks.
- Co-leading teams that assisted a global financial institution with the transition of its loan portfolios tied to U.S. dollar LIBOR and the Bloomberg Short-Term Bank Yield index (BSBY).
- Advising three U.S.-based global financial institutions on consent order remediation, including through preparation of quarterly reporting, narrative responses to findings, and action plans.
- Advising multiple financial institutions on requirements related to qualified financial contracts (QFCs).
- Developing training materials for boards of directors of a U.S.-based global financial institution focusing on fiduciary duties and recovery and resolution planning.
Kate’s investigation and enforcement experience includes:
- Representing a full-service broker-dealer in a FINRA investigation regarding spoofing in the U.S. Treasury market.
- Representing a U.S.-based global financial institution in worldwide government investigations into foreign exchange trading.
- Conducting an internal review for a global financial institution focused on identifying potential trading-related systems and controls issues.
- Representing a financial institution in state and federal government inquiries related to loans made under COVID-19 relief programs.
- Representing a U.S. financial institution in an internal investigation related to conduct risk management processes and preparing related regulatory reporting.
- Representing a non-U.S.-based global financial institution in its response to investigations related to the Panama Papers.
- Conducting an investigation into employment-related matters for a manufacturing company.
- Assisting in conducting public company investigations involving accounting irregularities and executive misconduct in the manufacturing industry.
Kate’s litigation experience includes:
- Representing a broker-dealer in federal class action litigation regarding spoofing in the U.S. Treasury market, which ended in voluntary dismissal of all claims.
- Representing a large bank in New York commercial court litigation alleging fraud in connection with Brazilian tax-advantaged financing of an aircraft lease transaction, including securing dismissal of all contract and tort claims.
- Representing a natural pesticide company in federal litigation with a supplier involving contract, fraud, and trade secret claims, which ended favorably following a week-long jury trial.
- Representing an employer in North Carolina litigation involving defamation claims, including securing summary judgment on behalf of the employer.
Notable
Notable
- Law360, Rising Stars for Compliance, 2025
- Chambers USA - North Carolina, Banking & Finance: Mainly Regulatory, 2024-2025
- Legal 500 US, Corporate Investigations White-Collar Criminal Defense, 2024; Financial Services Regulation, 2024
- Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation "Ones to Watch," 2021-2025
- Benchmark Litigation “40 & Under List," 2025
- Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation, 2024
- Business North Carolina Legal Elite, Young Guns, 2023
- North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society, 2017-2018, 2020
- “Taking the Next Step in the Legal Response to Domestic Violence: The Need to Reexamine Specialized Domestic Violence Courts from a Victim Perspective,” Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, 2013
News
News
Insights
Blogs and Resources
Blog Posts
Capabilities
- Antitrust
- Bank Regulatory & Fintech
- Civil Litigation
- Compliance, Controls, & Risk Management
- Cross-Border Investigations and Defense
- Financial Regulatory Advice & Response
- Internal Investigations
- Investigations
- Litigation, Regulatory & White Collar
- Resolution Planning & Stress Testing
- Swaps & Derivatives
- White Collar & Government Enforcement Defense
Education
J.D., Columbia Law School, 2013; Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, 2011; James Kent Scholar, 2012-2013
B.A., Davidson College, 2008; Magna cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa
Admissions
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, 2017
- United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, 2017
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 2017
- North Carolina, 2016
- United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, 2016
- United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2015
- New York, 2014