Firm News: Kiersten Fletcher Joins Cahill’s New York Office as White Collar Defense and Investigations Partner 07.01.2024

Kiersten Fletcher Joins Cahill's New York Office as White Collar Defense and Investigations Partner

Date: 07/01/24

Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP announced today that Kiersten Fletcher, most recently an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and a senior member of the SDNY Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, will join the firm as a partner in New York, where she will immediately deepen the bench of our White Collar Defense and Investigations; Securities Litigation, Regulation & Enforcement; and Digital Assets & Emerging Technology practices.

Kiersten joins Cahill after more than eight years of public service in the Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor for SDNY. Before joining the SDNY Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force in 2020, Kiersten served in the Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit. Across both roles, she served as lead or co-lead prosecutor in 10 jury trials in significant criminal cases involving a wide spectrum of financial crime, while overseeing teams of lawyers, agents and other personnel. These widely-watched trials regularly involved securities fraud, wire fraud, market manipulation, money laundering, immigration fraud, and firearms and narcotics offenses. She also led scores of non-public grand jury investigations and contributed to numerous other prosecutions, spanning accounting fraud, insider trading, mismarking, the Investment Advisers Act, cryptocurrency manipulation and anti-touting, the Bank Secrecy Act, bank bribery, sanctions, bank fraud, tax evasion, and criminal forfeiture, among others. Kiersten also taught the SDNY Prosecution Clinic at New York University School of Law as an adjunct professor in 2021.

"Kiersten's outstanding record as a prosecutor in a broad array of securities and other financial crime cases, and her extensive trial experience, will be extremely valuable to clients who turn to Cahill with their most difficult challenges," said Anirudh Bansal, chair of Cahill's White Collar Defense and Investigations practice, himself a former Southern District AUSA. "Companies, boards, and their executives seek the very best when the stakes are highest. With Kiersten, that's exactly what they will get - insightful, experienced, detail-oriented, and steady counsel from someone with a deep understanding of the government's perspective."

"While SDNY is among the most respected and aggressive in pursuing financial crime, they rarely go it alone, but rather work hand in hand with the FBI, SEC, CFTC, and others," said David Januszewski, chair of Cahill's Litigation practice. "Kiersten's eight-plus years' experience working in partnership with these agencies offers a unique vantage point and a powerful understanding of their operations that Cahill clients will deeply appreciate."

"Kiersten's impressive tenure at SDNY speaks for itself, and we are fortunate to have her join our market-leading litigation team at Cahill," said Herb Washer, Chair of Cahill's Executive Committee. "Her record at trial is outstanding, consistently earning convictions and guilty pleas in complex financial and fraud cases. Her experience guiding such matters to a successful outcome, both at the DOJ and in private practice before her government service, makes her an excellent match for our team and our clients."

Kiersten shared, "Cahill stands at the center of some of the financial community's most sophisticated, engaging, and innovative legal matters in the litigation, enforcement, and regulatory space. I could not pass up the opportunity to join the firm and tackle these challenges."

Prior to her service with the Department of Justice, Kiersten served as an associate at a leading global law firm, where she represented bank clients, hedge funds, and senior executives. She received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).