Colloquium | Right to Defence in Internal Investigations

Nicolette Kost De Sèvres focuses her practice on global investigations, compliance and regulatory enforcement matters. A former financial regulator and general counsel of a large, listed company, she has over 24 years of experience in compliance, white-collar crime and financial regulation. Nicolette serves as co-head of McDermott Will & Schulte’s global investigations and compliance practice.

Nicolette has practiced in Paris, London, Sydney, Washington, DC, and Montreal, including at the New York Stock Exchange in Paris (NYSE Euronext) and the Royal Bank of Scotland in London. She also served as chief of staff and advisor to the president of the Financial Markets Authority in Canada under two different presidents.

Nicolette has a wealth of experience in anti-corruption and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance both in Europe and globally. She handles corporate and regulatory investigations, risk assessments, and due diligence compliance, including Know Your Client (KYC) regulations. Nicolette also represents clients before enforcement agencies and regulators in Europe, Canada and the United States, such as the new French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA) and assists them in compliance, investigations and regulatory matters related to regulators such as ESMA the AMF, ACPR, CFTC, SEC, the World Bank and other multilateral banks.

Nicolette advises financial institutions and global and local companies on preventive measures. She is a sought-after advisor in complex white-collar crime matters, building and strengthening local and global compliance programs, preparing or conducting risk assessments and mapping, whistleblowing systems, compliance programs, World Bank Integrity Guidelines, the French Loi Sapin II, Loi sur le devoir de vigilance, FCPA, UKBA, EU Directives relating to whistleblower protection, ESG reporting, EU financial regulation (including MIFID, EMIR, AIFMD, BASEL, BRDD, AML, PDS2, SEPA) and FinTech regulation. Additionally, she has a special insight on the military and defense sectors in the United States and France.

A known thought leader in the global market, Nicolette is a sought-after writer and speaker on compliance, enforcement, business ethics, international financial markets and the effects of regulation on financial systemic risk, derivatives, high-frequency trading and the legal framework of European financial markets.

She is the author of the book International Economic Law, numerous articles in compliance and investigations and one of the first articles on DLT, “Blockchain Revolution: An Analysis of Regulation and Technology Related to Distributed Ledger Technologies.” She teaches compliance, investigations and FinTech.