Litigation & Matter Management: Using AI, Analytics and Legal Ops Ideas to Drive Better Outcomes

Larissa is a go-to, problem-solving lawyer practicing within the firm’s Business and Securities Litigation Department. She is a member of the firm’s Energy Litigation Group and has prior experience with healthcare compliance law. Her current practice focuses on high-stakes commercial litigation, complex contractual disputes, and business torts, in which she manages large multi-firm teams to successful outcomes for her clients.

Larissa has also defended against class action suits, and regulatory investigations, and provided advice to clients on risk mitigation and compliance with state and federal law. Larissa has experience in trial and appellate litigation at both the state and federal levels.

Before joining McGuireWoods, Larissa practiced law at the Washington, D.C., office of an international firm, where she successfully represented corporate clients in arbitration and federal courts in a variety of areas, ranging from trademark infringement to complex contract disputes, to the defense of antitrust issues.

Most recently, Larissa served as General Counsel and Compliance Officer for a medical billing company, where she oversaw and monitored corporate and client adherence to federal and state statutes and regulations, in addition to contractual obligations and internal policies and procedures of third-party payers. Among other things, she advised and trained staff and clients on all relevant healthcare compliance matters; drafted and negotiated contracts; attended to all corporate employment law matters; ensured compliance with all fair debt collection legislation; periodically audited compliance risk areas; and interfaced with and managed outside trial counsel.

While pursuing her law degree at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Larissa was honored with the distinction of Order of the Coif. Additionally, Larissa served as the Symposia Editor of the Benjamin N. Cardozo Law Review and as a Representative and Treasurer of the Student Bar Association.

Kara Brockmeyer is a litigation partner in the firm’s Washington D.C. office, where she represents companies and individuals in anti-corruption, fraud and related government investigations and internal investigations, and advises on deal due diligence and compliance matters. She is a member of the White Collar & Regulatory Defense and Strategic Crisis Response and Solutions Groups.

Ms. Brockmeyer is a recognized international expert on the FCPA and corporate compliance programs. She is ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global (2023) and Chambers USA (2023), where clients note that her “approach, knowledge level, experience and expertise make her a must contact for any FCPA issue.” She has also received praise for her “superior commercial awareness,” her “deep knowledge of the subtleties of FCPA work, great leadership skills” and her “great awareness of differences in business culture.” She is said to possess “enviable experience in major anticorruption investigations” and “expertise counseling clients on FCPA compliance programs.” Ms. Brockmeyer is also recommended by The Legal 500 Latin America (2024), where clients have noted her “excellent ability to simplify and manage the most complex cases and situations efficiently and clearly.”

Since joining Debevoise in 2017, Ms. Brockmeyer has advised numerous public companies, senior executives and other clients in government investigations and internal investigations, with a particular focus on anti-corruption and accounting issues. She regularly advises clients on their compliance obligations, including corporate governance and the design and implementation of compliance programs and internal controls. She is a frequent speaker and commentator on compliance and corporate governance topics, as well as anti-corruption and regulatory enforcement issues.

Ms. Brockmeyer is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the firm’s monthly FCPA Update newsletter and is the hiring partner for the DC office. She chairs the IBA’s Anti-Corruption Committee’s Non-Trial Resolutions Subcommittee, dedicated to increasing the use of non-trial resolution frameworks worldwide, and is a member of the Steering Committee for the DC Bar Association’s Corporation, Finance and Securities Community. Ms. Brockmeyer is also on the Board of Trustees for the Legal Aid Society of DC.

Ms. Brockmeyer joined Debevoise after a seventeen-year career at the SEC, including five and a half years as the Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit, where she directed a nationwide team of attorneys and forensic accountants investigating violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. During her tenure as chief of the unit, she oversaw more than 200 investigations, including many of the agency’s largest and most complex FCPA investigations, and oversaw more than two dozen corporate monitors and independent compliance consultants on behalf of the government. She was also one of the principal authors of the first SEC-DOJ Resource Guide to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which is widely considered the definitive government-issued guide on the FCPA.

Over her career at the SEC, including five years as an assistant director, Ms. Brockmeyer supervised more than 300 investigations, including leading and personally conducting major investigations in all areas of SEC enforcement, including financial reporting and accounting fraud, broker-dealer and investment adviser violations, and insider trading. She was the recipient of numerous awards while at the SEC, including the SEC’s Meritorious Impact Award, Irving M. Pollack Award, and Capital Markets Award. Before joining the SEC, Ms. Brockmeyer was in private practice in Chicago, primarily focused on securities and complex commercial litigation.

Ms. Brockmeyer earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, magna cum laude, where she was also Note Editor of the Michigan Law Review. She received her B.A. from Williams College, cum laude.

Susan Benington serves as VP, Senior Managing Counsel, Privacy and Data Protection at Mastercard. In her role, Susan leads privacy work for Mastercard’s open banking division in the North American, Brazilian, and Australian markets. Her team is deeply engaged with the business on all matters related to product development, data governance, and information security.

Prior to Mastercard, Susan supported the connected vehicle division at General Motors, which involved providing privacy guidance on all privacy matters relating to B2C and B2B products and services.

Kathryn DeBord is DISCO’s Vice President of Product Strategy, where she works within the product team to help strategize how DISCO can change how legal is practiced and delivered using technology.

Prior to joining DISCO, Ms. DeBord served as the Global Chief Innovation Officer of a large international law firm. In that role, Ms. DeBord lead an international cross-disciplinary team dedicated to legal service delivery innovation.

Before joining the world of legal innovation, Ms. DeBord was a commercial litigation partner and a trial attorney specializing in complex contract, patent, and IP licensing matters, as well as consumer class action defense at an AMLAW 50 firm.

Ms. DeBord has extensive experience serving as an advisor to various companies and legal innovation initiatives, as a guest lecturer to law schools teaching legal innovation and the business of law, and as a speaker on legal innovation.

Brittany is an attorney turned experienced corporate counsel and business director. After starting her career in a traditional law firm, she knew with her background in business – both by degree and working experience – that she had more to offer. Her passion is seeing businesses thrive and helping facilitate those successes. She has directed and collaborated with internal departments from marketing, data analysis, human resources, and finance, leading teams in a wide range of business transactions.

Brittany has in-depth experience in reviewing a variety of contracts, including nondisclosures, licensing, marketing, partnership, SaaS, vendor documents, and government agreements. She offers a unique approach by being able to look at a document from both business and legal perspectives. She’s also highly experienced in litigation, mediation, managing outside counsel, and protecting intellectual property through trademarks. As Chief Corporate Counsel, Brittany manages Civix’s legal team with a focus on contract negotiations, intellectual property, compliance, global HR situations for risk management, and M&A transactions.

In the community, Brittany volunteers at Give Kids the World and is on the Board of Directors for the Association of Corporate Counsel. Brittany is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Central Florida with a Bachelors in Business Administration. She received her Juris Doctor degree from the Florida A&M College of Law, where she was the Valedictorian of her class.