Yesul ("Kristin") Lee

Overview

Drawing on her experience as both a regulator and an industry professional, Kristin advises financial institutions on complex compliance, enforcement, and litigation matters involving federal and state banking and securities laws. She helps clients assess risk, address regulatory concerns proactively, and resolve investigations efficiently.

Kristin represents banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, and other financial institutions in regulatory investigations and enforcement actions brought by the OCC, SEC, FINRA, CFTC, DOJ and state regulators. She also counsels clients on California-specific regulatory issues and state licensing requirements related to banking and investment activities, as well as defends them in litigation arising from alleged regulatory and statutory violations.

Clients benefit from Kristin’s practical, risk-focused approach and her insight into how regulators evaluate potential issues. She identifies potential regulatory risks early and recommends practical corrective measures before issues escalate into enforcement actions. When matters do proceed before regulators, Kristin highlights clients’ proactive compliance efforts to help mitigate exposure and achieve favorable outcomes.

Kristin’s approach is informed by her previous role as an Associate National Bank Examiner at the OCC, where she conducted bank examinations, evaluated governance and compliance programs and drafted enforcement-related memoranda. That experience enhances her ability to provide clients with insight into supervisory priorities, regulatory expectations, and how potential issues are likely to be viewed by regulators and enforcement staff. Before entering legal practice, she also worked in the asset management industry structuring and registering a range of investment products, including mutual funds, ETFs, hedge funds, real estate funds and private equity funds.

Combining regulatory, litigation and industry experience, Kristin readily aligns her legal advice with her clients’ business realities and excels at proactively addressing regulatory concerns and developing efficient litigation and settlement strategies.

Kristin is fluent in both English and Korean.