McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

Teresa Kosmidis focuses her practice on consumer protection and consumer financial services regulation, compliance, enforcement, and litigation. She advises financial institutions, payments companies, FinTech companies, and other consumer-facing businesses on complex regulatory and enforcement matters at the federal and state levels, including companies that market to consumers, handle payments or billing, or face scrutiny from federal and state regulators.

Teresa brings a rare end-to-end regulatory perspective shaped by her significant experience at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where she worked across rulemaking, supervision, enforcement, and litigation. Having operated inside two of the US government’s most powerful consumer financial regulators, Teresa understands not only what the law requires, but how regulators think, prioritize, examine, investigate, and enforce across a wide range of consumer-facing business models.

Teresa also advises clients on regulatory, compliance, and enforcement issues related to cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, including consumer-facing crypto products, payments, and emerging blockchain-based business models.

At the CFPB, Teresa served in senior roles in the Offices of Regulations, Enforcement, and Supervision. She helped formulate and draft federal consumer financial regulations, advised senior leadership on regulatory strategy, and served as a subject matter expert on key statutes and rules, including the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act of 1978 and Regulation E, and the Truth in Lending Act of 1968 and Regulation Z. She regularly advised examination teams, led and supported challenging supervisory exams, and addressed novel regulatory issues in coordination with enforcement senior staff.

While at the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Teresa represented the agency in federal court litigation and investigations involving nonbank financial institutions, including retail and other consumer-facing companies. Her matters included enforcement actions and investigations involving auto finance, payday lending, deceptive marketing and billing practices, and emerging technologies, including Bitcoin-related products. She conducted depositions, managed investigations, and coordinated closely with economists and state regulators.

She also advises clients in connection with transactions, including regulatory due diligence, identifying consumer protection risks, and structuring post-close remediation efforts.

Earlier in her career, Teresa practiced complex commercial litigation at a New York law firm and clerked for the Honorable E. Thomas Boyle of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Michelle Lowery is the go-to litigator for West Coast state and federal antitrust and unfair competition matters and for California Attorney General antitrust and general litigation matters. She has nearly two decades of experience achieving exceptional results for clients in antitrust and unfair competition litigation and investigations, including class actions. Michelle routinely achieves victories for her clients in high-stakes cases on the papers and in the courtroom.

Michelle has specific experience handling cases involving federal and state antitrust and unfair competition law matters, as well as a range of general complex litigation and investigation matters in the health, high-tech and manufacturing sectors. She has served as both plaintiff and defense counsel, with a focus on litigation between competitors and along the supply chain. Michelle regularly defends clients against civil investigations by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the California Attorney General’s Office. She helps her clients compete intensely by guiding and defending competitive strategies through and around litigation and investigations.

Michelle is the West Coast lead for the Firm’s antitrust and unfair competition practice, which is ranked “Global Elite” as one of the top 25 competition practices in the world by Global Competition Review. She has been recognized by Legal 500 US and Benchmark Litigation as excelling in antitrust and unfair competition litigation.

Sagar K. Ravi brings nearly a decade of experience as a federal prosecutor and seasoned trial lawyer to advise clients facing a wide range of white-collar and regulatory enforcement matters and high-stakes disputes. His practice focuses on cutting-edge issues at the intersection of law and technology, including digital assets, privacy and cybersecurity, healthcare fraud, false advertising, and artificial intelligence (AI). Leveraging his extensive engagement with US Department of Justice (DOJ) components, state attorneys general, and civil regulators, Sagar helps companies and individuals navigate complex, consequential investigations involving multiple government agencies and stakeholders and any ensuing litigation.

Before joining the firm, Sagar served as chief of the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), where he led a team of 20 senior prosecutors handling the most sophisticated fraud and cyber cases in the country, many of which were international in scope. He oversaw groundbreaking investigations, including some of the first US criminal investigations involving AI.

As a prosecutor, Sagar led and supervised cases and cross-border investigations involving healthcare fraud, the False Claims Act (FCA), securities and investment fraud, intellectual property and trade secrets theft, consumer fraud, tax offenses, sanctions, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and money laundering and the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). During his time at SDNY, Sagar tried and supervised 23 federal criminal trials to verdict and handled 10 appeals before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In addition to the DOJ, through his extensive experience with joint and parallel investigations, Sagar has had regular engagement with multiple civil regulators, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, among others.

Recognized nationally for his experience handling novel, high-profile criminal cyber and national security matters, Sagar provides strategic counsel to clients facing sensitive cross-border cybersecurity incidents, ransomware attacks, and AI-related risks. He also advises clients on the full spectrum of digital asset issues, including cryptocurrency theft and investment fraud, smart contract manipulation, fraud in non-fungible token (NFT) offerings, and crypto-enabled money laundering.

Earlier in his career, Sagar clerked for the Honorable Kiyo A. Matsumoto of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York and practiced at an international law firm representing corporate and individual clients in a variety of white-collar matters.

Alexander (Alex) Southwell is a leading technology-focused litigator and investigations lawyer. Top global companies rely on Alex to handle investigations, regulatory defense, and litigation related to a wide range of privacy, data security, information technology and governance, trade secrets, computer fraud, advertising and marketing practices, and consumer protection issues. He also regularly handles white-collar and securities enforcement defense matters and complex, high-profile internal investigations. As one client noted, “Alex is tremendous. If you’ve got an issue that is a paramount crisis and going to break the company, Alex is who you should turn to. He is top-notch, savvy, and he understands what you need.”

A former federal cybercrimes prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Alex advises clients ranging from emerging companies to global enterprises across all market sectors facing data breaches, security incidents, or cybercrimes. He has extensive experience counseling on broad issues under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Economic Espionage Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Communications Decency Act, and related federal and state computer fraud and consumer protection statutes. An experienced trial and appellate lawyer, Alex is regularly retained to lead privacy and data security and technology class actions and complex civil litigations across the US. He also frequently leads the defense of regulatory investigations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), state attorneys general, and other federal, state, and local regulators and criminal authorities.

Clients appreciate Alex’s “keen eye for attention to detail, client service, and navigating a complex legal and regulatory landscape.” His wide-ranging practice covers cutting-edge areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous vehicles, cloud deployment and risks, dark pattern allegations, data innovation, and digital assets and cryptocurrency. He advises clients on privacy and security risks related to data-driven product development and compliance with the full range of US and international privacy and data protection laws and regulations as well as global regulatory strategies. Alex is also experienced in counseling companies on the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules on cybersecurity risk management and disclosures, including cybersecurity governance and board oversight, and the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) cybersecurity regulation.

Alex’s white-collar practice includes representing corporate executives, individuals, companies, and boards in connection with white-collar criminal investigations and prosecutions and related civil investigations. He also has significant experience conducting internal corporate investigations and compliance monitoring. Alex’s practice covers securities and accounting fraud, healthcare fraud and compliance, economic sanctions violations, money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act violations, tax fraud, the False Claims Act and contracting fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and public corruption, among other areas.

Alex previously served as an assistant US attorney for the SDNY, focusing on cybercrimes and securities, commodities, and other white-collar frauds. He began his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Naomi Reice Buchwald of the US District Court for the SDNY.

Michael Roberts advises clients on issues at the intersection of privacy, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), emerging technologies, and crisis management. He provides strategic counsel to clients on managing data risks, enhancing data security programs, preparing for and responding to cybersecurity incidents, and conducting internal investigations and regulatory defense.

With extensive experience guiding companies through matters before US regulators and agencies, Michael has a comprehensive understanding of how investigations and enforcement actions unfold and how best to advocate for clients. He draws on this deep experience in assisting clients with matters before the CFTC, CISA, DOJ, FCC, FINRA, FTC, HHS OCR, NYDFS, SEC, and state attorneys general.

Michael also regularly advises clients on compliance strategies, product design, privacy program development, and risk management with respect to federal and state privacy and data security laws and regulations. He has guided clients through complex issues on an expansive array of counseling matters, including those that involve compliance with CAN-SPAM, COPPA, FCRA, FERPA, the FTC Act, GLBA, HIPAA, NYDFS Part 500, TCPA, and state privacy laws, as well as industry self-regulation on advertising and PCI DSS. Additionally, Michael regularly counsels clients in evaluating and mitigating data-related risks in complex transactions.

Michael frequently contributes to thought leadership on privacy, cybersecurity, and AI legal issues. He has served as the managing editor for the Practising Law Institute’s Privacy Law Answer Book (2023 and 2024 editions). Michael has also co-authored articles in publications including the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, the Cybersecurity Law Report, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computational Law Report, and the Review of Banking & Financial Services.