Karen Patton Seymour

Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell 

Karen Patton Seymour is a partner of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. She has a multidisciplinary practice focusing on corporate governance, crisis management, complex commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense and internal investigations.

Ms. Seymour recently rejoined the Firm from Goldman Sachs, where she served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel and was a member of the Management Committee. She oversaw the firm’s strategy regarding class action and other litigation and enforcement issues and served as a key advisor to the firm across a wide variety of legal, reputational and other matters. She successfully resolved a number of important matters on behalf of the firm and was key in negotiating the firm’s most critical legal matters, including 1MDB. She also advised the “Launch with GS,” Goldman Sachs’ $500 million commitment to narrow the gender investing gap and to increase access to capital for women and diverse entrepreneurs and investors.

Prior to her time at Goldman Sachs, Ms. Seymour was co-managing partner of S&C’s Litigation Group and represented corporations, financial institutions and individuals in state and federal investigations and proceedings involving allegations of securities fraud and insider trading, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, anti-money laundering, OFAC sanctions, and criminal antitrust violations. She often worked on complex, multi-jurisdictional matters, such as leading the negotiations of numerous significant settlements involving multiple jurisdictions. Ms. Seymour has tried numerous jury and bench trials in federal court and argued many appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She has deep experience representing corporations and individuals outside of the United States in responding to U.S. inquiries and investigations, and assisting in complex international investigations.

From 2002 to 2004, Ms. Seymour served as Chief of the Criminal Division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where she supervised 165 federal prosecutors and oversaw all criminal investigations and prosecutions in the district.

During her first tenure in the U.S. Attorney’s Office from 1990 to 1996, she prosecuted a wide variety of cases and served as Chief of the General Crimes Unit.

Ms. Seymour is involved in various professional organizations, including serving as an Advisory Board Member for the NYU Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, and an Adviser on Principles of the Law, Compliance, Enforcement, and Risk Management for Corporations, Non-Profits, and Other Organizations for the American Law Institute.  She is also on the board of various non-profit organizations, including serving as a Board Member for the Public Art Fund, a Trustee for the Board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and as an Honorary Trustee for the Vera Institute of Justice.

 

 

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