• Kate Wellman’s practice focuses on representing clients in government investigations and regulatory compliance matters.

  • Legal 500
    Legal 500 US, Corporate Investigations White-Collar Criminal Defense, 2024; Financial Services Regulation, 2024
  • Best Lawyers
    Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation "Ones to Watch," 2021-2025
  • Lawdragon
    Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation, 2024

Overview

Kate manages large-scale regulatory compliance projects for financial institutions, including related to development of state and federal law inventories, LIBOR transition, recovery and resolution planning, and compliance with global shareholding related requirements.  She has had leading roles in multiple firm projects involving remediation stemming from consent orders and other regulatory actions and has worked with various constituencies across her clients’ organizations to prepare narrative responses to findings and implement regulatory commitments.  Kate further 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 has conducted internal investigations across a range of industries and managed and coordinated reviews relating to systems and controls issues, including analysis of cross-border accounts for anti-money laundering and tax compliance issues.

Kate also 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. Kate maintains a pro bono practice that has involved representation of clients in state court housing matters and 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.

Kate earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was recognized for academic achievement all three years and awarded the Robert Noxon Toppan Prize for submitting the top constitutional law examination.

Notable

Notable

  • 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 Society2017-2018, 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

Blogs and Resources

Blog Posts

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
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Legal 500 US, Corporate Investigations White-Collar Criminal Defense, 2024; Financial Services Regulation, 2024

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