Katie Lieberg Stowe

Managing Associate
Securities Litigation & Regulatory Enforcement
(415) 773-4222
kstowe@orrick.com
Read full biography at www.orrick.com

Ms. Stowe's primary practice is defending federal and state securities fraud claims related to stock, debt, and mortgage-backed securities.  She also has experience in related insurance and indemnification matters.

Her recent engagements include the following:

  • Representing a bank in actions by monoline insurers seeking to deny coverage under financial guarantees covering residential mortgage-backed securitizations. 
  • Representing the former president of the nation’s largest mortgage lender in litigation with the SEC in the Central District of California, multiple suits by equity and debt holders, and litigation brought by RMBS investors and insurers in jurisdictions across the country. 
  • Representing corporations and executives in internal investigations and criminal investigations, investigating allegations related to compliance, fiduciary duty, and securities laws issues. 

Ms. Stowe is the co-editor of the RMBS Litigation section of Orrick’s Financial Industry blog.  She devotes a portion of her practice to pro bono activities, including the Volunteer Legal Services Program and the Michigan Innocence Clinic.

Prior to joining Orrick, Ms. Stowe clerked for the Honorable Irma E. Gonzalez in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. 

Katie Stowe

Posts by Katie Lieberg Stowe

SEC

SEC and FBI Try to Ketchup to Heinz Insider Traders

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In the latest development in an SEC lawsuit filed Friday, February 15, U.S. District Judge Rakoff extended a freeze on a Swiss Goldman Sachs account linked to possible insider trading in H.J. Heinz Company call options. The complaint alleges that these options were bought for $90,000 the day before the ketchup maker agreed to be bought by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, giving the mystery investors $1.7 million in profits. The SEC said that the timing and size of the trades were suspicious because the account had had no history of trading Heinz stock over the last six months.

On Friday, February 15, Rakoff approved an emergency court order to freeze the assets in a Swiss trading account, which would prevent the investors from taking the profits out of the account until they showed up in court to “unfreeze” them. At a hearing the following week, none of the investors showed up. Rakoff relished: “They can hide, but their assets can’t run.” Read More

Dodd-Frank Act

Tim Pawlenty To Champion Deregulation at Financial Services Roundtable

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On September 20, 2012, the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR), a trade organization representing the 100 largest financial services companies in the country, announced that former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty will become its new President and Chief Executive Officer on November 1. Pawlenty will succeed Steve Bartlett, who announced his retirement plans in March. Pawlenty spent 15 years as a labor lawyer before serving as a state representative and later Governor of Minnesota.

FSR actively lobbies for changes to the Dodd-Frank Act and its supporting regulations. Its goals include defeating Dodd-Frank’s price controls on debit card fees, the Volcker Rule, and whistleblower provisions. Dodd-Frank requires the drafting of over 300 new regulations that will apply to banks and other financial firms. FSR took the lead on past deregulation efforts, including some of the efforts to repeal the Glass-Steagall restrictions on affiliations between banks and insurance companies. FSR has also filed amici briefs in several important financial cases at both the appellate and Supreme Court level. Read More

Securities Exchange Act

Madoff Fund Investors’ Exchange Act Claims Bite the Morrison Dust

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Courts have been making slow but steady progress in testing the limits of the 2010 Supreme Court case Morrison v. Nat’l Australian Bank Ltd., 130 S.Ct. 2869 (2010). In Morrison, the Court held the federal securities laws apply only to purchases or sales made “in connection with the purchase or sale of a security listed on an American stock exchange, and the purchase or sale of any other security in the United States.” Id. at 2888. The Second Circuit has held that the “purchase and sale” of a security occurs when “irrevocable liability” occurs and the parties are bound to the transaction. Absolute Activist Value Master Fund v. Ficeto, 677 F.3d 60 (2d Cir. 2012) Read More