Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Financial Services Disputes and Investigations

Partner - Litigation and Investigations

Ranked Band 1 in Chambers USA Nationwide for Derivatives enforcement, Katherine Cooper is an experienced lawyer with extensive experience in the sale and trading of commodities, derivatives, securities, and digital assets. She also represents clients in related regulatory and grand jury investigations, enforcement actions, and criminal prosecutions.

For more than 20 years, Katherine served in leadership roles at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, swap dealers, and a financial derivatives exchange. At the CFTC, she rose to senior trial attorney within the Division of Enforcement where she oversaw the investigation and prosecution of enforcement actions involving frauds and other wrongdoing by brokerage houses, commodity trading advisers, commodity pool operators, foreign exchange boiler rooms and exchange floor members. Some of these matters led her to conduct collaborative investigations with the FBI and other governmental agencies. Subsequently, she served as the Chief Regulatory Officer of NYSE Liffe US, a CFTC-registered futures exchange. Drawing on that background, she offers market participants trusted guidance in navigating the often-confusing legal and regulatory landscape for financial services. She provides clients not only knowledge about applicable law, but also an understanding of the interplay between market participants trading derivatives and financial products.

Katherine has also worked in senior compliance roles leading teams covering the public sales and trading of fixed income, currencies and commodities assets, as well as equity execution, equity derivatives, preferred securities, and structured products businesses.

Katherine is qualified in New York and Ireland.