Washington, DC. Nixon Peabody LLP has hired Kara Stein, former US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) member, as a partner in the firm’s Government Investigations & White-Collar Defense practice.
Kara advises executives and boards of public and private companies, audit firms, broker-dealers, banks, insurers, and investment funds on disclosure, deal risk, regulatory compliance, among other complex regulatory, litigation, and crisis-management matters. With her background as a former SEC commissioner, she also assists clients with testimony, incident response, and investigations, including internal reviews to assess False Claims Act claims by whistleblowers and any potential operational, billing, compliance, or reputational implications.
Based in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, Kara has three decades of experience in government, private practice, and industry leadership. She has substantial congressional experience, including serving as staff director of the Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Kara’s legal practice focuses on navigating challenges clients encounter with the SEC, the PCAOB, the US Senate, the US House of Representatives, and other financial services regulators.
“With her background as a US Senate-confirmed SEC commissioner and her extensive experience on Capitol Hill, Kara is distinctively positioned to help clients with a variety of securities, corporate governance, and regulatory matters,” said Nixon Peabody partner Robert Fisher, leader of the firm’s Government Investigations & White-Collar practice. “Utilizing her unmatched industry experience and leadership, Kara will also work closely with our transactional practices to advise clients on disclosure, regulatory, and audit risks that arise during the deal process.”
Kara also has a breadth of international regulatory experience, having attended multiple meetings of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) on behalf of the SEC, and serving as chair of the Global Audit Quality Working Group of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR).
“Kara’s experience provides strong credibility in securities regulation, audit and accounting oversight, corporate governance, financial services, AI, crisis response, and global public policy,” said Sumeet Sharma, managing partner of Nixon Peabody’s Washington, DC, office. “We’re thrilled to welcome Kara to Nixon Peabody and our DC office. Her credentials and breadth of experience are impressive, and her insights will enhance our work across industry sectors and practice areas.”
Among her teaching and research credentials, Kara served as a distinguished policy fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School; a senior research fellow and director of the AI & Capital Markets Initiative, Center on Innovation, at the University of California College of the Law; and a law lecturer at Harvard Law School. Kara earned her BA, cum laude, from Yale College and her JD from Yale Law School.
