Karen Porter is a Partner in the Firm’s Litigation Department, practicing in the Washington, D.C. office. Karen focuses on cross-border government and internal investigations as well as antitrust, corporate governance and compliance matters. She also represents clients in a wide range of high-profile, complex commercial litigation matters, including securities, class action and shareholder derivative litigations. Karen has experience managing sensitive, high-stakes regulatory and criminal matters—including interactions with senior management, board committees, external auditors and government regulators—as well as follow-on litigation. Karen also has experience advising senior officers and directors in global antitrust, money laundering and sanctions investigations. In 2023, Karen was recognized on Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under List,” which honors the top emerging talent in litigation.
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Work Highlights
- Brazil-based food company in DOJ and SEC investigations of alleged product quality fraud and corruption
- Global financial institution in dismissal of a proposed class action alleging conspiracy to fix prices in the Mexican bond market
- Independent Directors of Carnival Corp. Board of Directors in dismissal of shareholder derivative case
- Global financial institution in multiple cross-agency investigations (DOJ, SEC, CFTC, DFS, FRBNY, FINRA, and global regulators), including related compliance remediation and enhancement in connection with a global monitorship
- An SEC-mandated compliance consultancy of a global health sciences company
- An SEC-mandated compliance consultancy of a U.S.-based investment firm
- Global financial institution in spoofing settlement with CFTC and related private civil litigation
Accolades
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Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation, “40 & Under List”
Education
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Duke University School of Law, 2012 J.D.
cum laude; Mordecai Scholarship; Faculty Award for Outstanding Achievement in International, Comparative and Transnational Law (2012); Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law; Duke Moot Court Board
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Yale University, 2007 B.A.
summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa; Edwin W. Small Prize
Associations
- Fellow, American Bar Foundation
- Duke Law Alumni Association Board of Directors, New Lawyers Division (2012-2017)
Admissions
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California 2013
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District of Columbia 2013
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U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan 2014
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U.S. District Court Northern District of California 2014
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U.S. District Court District of Columbia 2020
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U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit 2015
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Supreme Court of the United States 2017
Karen Porter is a Partner in the Firm’s Litigation Department, practicing in the Washington, D.C. office. Karen focuses on cross-border government and internal investigations as well as antitrust, corporate governance and compliance matters. She also represents clients in a wide range of high-profile, complex commercial litigation matters, including securities, class action and shareholder derivative litigations. She has experience managing sensitive, high-stakes regulatory and criminal matters–including interactions with senior management, board committees, external auditors and government regulators—as well as follow-on litigation. Karen also has experience advising senior officers and directors in global antitrust, money laundering and sanctions investigations. In 2023, Karen was recognized on Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under List,” which honors the top emerging talent in litigation.
Karen’s recent representations include:
- Brazil-based food company in DOJ and SEC investigations of alleged product quality fraud and corruption
- Global financial institution in dismissal of a proposed class action alleging conspiracy to fix prices in the Mexican bond market
- Independent Directors of Carnival Corp. Board of Directors in dismissal of shareholder derivative case
- Global financial institution in multiple cross-agency investigations (DOJ, SEC, CFTC, DFS, FRBNY, FINRA, and global regulators), including related compliance remediation and enhancement in connection with a global monitorship
- An SEC-mandated compliance consultancy of a global health sciences company
- An SEC-mandated compliance consultancy of a U.S.-based investment firm
- Global financial institution in spoofing settlement with CFTC, and related private civil litigation
Karen earned her J.D., cum laude, from Duke University School of Law in 2012, where she received a Faculty Award for Outstanding Achievement in International, Comparative and Transnational Law. She received her B.A., summa cum laude, from Yale University in 2007, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Karen is admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C. and California, and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit and the United States District Courts for the Northern District of California, Eastern District of Michigan and District of Columbia.