Mr Christian Kemnitz > Katten > Chicago, United States > Lawyer Profile
Katten Offices
525 WEST MONROE STREET
CHICAGO, IL 60661-3693
ILLINOIS
United States
- Firm Profile
- Go to...
Mr Christian Kemnitz
Work Department
Financial Markets Litigation and Enforcement
Position
Christian Kemnitz devotes his practice to the defense of financial services firms in litigation, regulatory enforcement proceedings and internal investigations. His work frequently involves disputes over futures, options, swaps, securities and other complex financial products. In particular, he has extensive experience defending matters relating to spoofing, manipulation and other forms of disruptive trading.
Chris’ work on financial services litigation includes proposed class actions brought under securities laws. He also frequently represents broker-dealers in civil disputes, including arbitration claims brought by customers. In this work, Chris has a long and successful record at arbitration hearings. In the heavily regulated field of financial services, he also handles enforcement proceedings before the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), self-regulatory bodies, and at stock, option and futures exchanges.
Outside of financial services, Chris has litigated employment, product liability and class action matters, as well as disputes within partnerships and closely held corporations. Clients also seek his counsel on antitrust issues, where Chris’ experience includes pre-merger regulatory review, criminal investigations and class actions by direct and indirect purchasers.
Chris also advises corporate and individual clients in white-collar criminal matters, including investigations initiated by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the SEC and the CFTC. Often those investigations are preceded by internal investigations. Chris has run such internal investigations for manufacturing companies, investment banks, broker-dealers and hedge funds.
Languages
German
Education
JD, The University of Chicago Law School; BA, Michigan State University
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
Katten has demonstrable experience advising on regulatory mandates, encompassing enforcement proceedings, CFTC investigations and litigation cases, associated with over-the-counter and exchange-traded derivatives products. Counting US and international investment banks, hedge funds and proprietary trading firms among its key roster of clients, the team has the capability to advise on futures, over-the-counter and structured products transactions. In the Chicago office, Lance Zinman is the global chair of the firm’s financial markets and funds department and Christian Kemnitz leads the financial markets litigation and enforcement group, while Washington DC-based Daniel Davis and New York’s Carl Kennedy co-chair the financial markets and regulation practice. Kennedy handles regulatory matters concerning the Dodd-Frank Act and New York-based Gary DeWaal is noted for his experience advising on exchange-traded derivatives and crypto-assets, while Chicago’s senior counsel Kevin Foley handles compliance issues associated with the CEA and the CFTC. In the firm’s New York office, Stephen Morris joined from Morgan Stanley in April 2022, and Ilene Froom arrived from Reed Smith LLP in July 2022.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
Firm Rankings
- Transport > Aviation and air travel: finance
- Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Investment fund formation and management > Alternative/hedge funds
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Healthcare > Service providers
- Industry focus > Sport
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: litigation
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Media, technology and telecoms > Advertising and marketing: litigation