Lisa N. Umans

Counsel | She/Her/Hers

Overview

When clients require expert assistance navigating sensitive internal investigations or high-profile government inquiries, Lisa can be relied upon to provide thoughtful and dependable advice and counsel.  Informed by her years of experience representing some of the largest global financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies, and their senior executives and employees, Lisa helps clients develop legal strategies to overcome the challenges posed by the most sophisticated regulatory enforcement investigations and criminal prosecutions.

As a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s New York office and a member of the firm’s White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement group, Lisa has represented large institutional clients and individuals in federal and state regulatory and criminal investigations conducted by grand juries, congressional committees, and domestic and international law enforcement and regulatory agencies including the Department of Justice’s Criminal and Antitrust Divisions, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and various State Attorneys General.  Most recently, Lisa has assisted over fifty employees from three global financial institutions in connection with federal regulatory investigations into business-related electronic communications on employees’ personal devices.

Lisa also has a depth of experience in compliance monitorships.  Since 2019, Lisa has served as a key member of the office of the Independent Monitor of the New York City District Council of Carpenters and related Taft-Hartley benefit funds.  Since 2021, she has served as part of the Court-appointed federal monitor team for the United Autoworkers of America, overseeing the union’s historic union-wide referendum election and their first ever union-wide national mail-in ballot officer election.

In addition to her work on behalf of firm clients, Lisa is dedicated to helping ensure equal access to justice by providing pro bono counsel to indigent clients facing criminal prosecution as part of the Southern District of New York Criminal Justice Act panel.  For her service, she received Crowell’s George Bailey Pro Bono Award in 2021.  Lisa has also been recognized by Best Lawers in America as “One to Watch” in Criminal Defense: White Collar, Commercial Litigation since 2021.

Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, Lisa was a litigation associate in the New York office of an AmLaw 100 firm, where she also concentrated on complex securities and commercial litigation matters.  From 2007 to 2009, Lisa served as a paralegal specialist in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York as part of the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.

Career & Education

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    • Boston University, B.A., cum laude, political science, 2007
    • Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 2012
    • Boston University, B.A., cum laude, political science, 2007
    • Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 2012
    • New York
    • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
    • New York
    • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Lisa's Insights

Firm News | 8 min read | 08.15.24

The Best Lawyers in America 2025 Recognizes 42 Crowell & Moring Attorneys, Three Selected as Lawyer of the Year

Washington – August 15, 2024: The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 42 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 29 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”...

Representative Matters

  • Represented multiple pools of employees of global investment banks in connection with investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) into the monitoring, archiving, and safeguarding of business-related electronic communications, including communications on employees’ personal devices.
  • Advised a global investment bank in a whistleblowing investigation of alleged manipulation of its electronic trading platform.
  • Represented a managing director at a global investment bank in an internal investigation and a related FINRA inquiry of potential insider trading.
  • Counseled the special litigation committee of a global technology company in connection with securities fraud and breach of fiduciary claims alleged by the New York Attorney General and shareholders.
  • Represented an organ procurement organization in an investigation conducted by the United States House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy into mismanagement in the organ procurement industry.
  • Represented senior executives at a global investment bank in connection with internal regulatory investigations conducted by The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority related to the bank’s supervisory obligations with regard to risk management and appropriate organizational structures.
  • Advised the former chief operating officer of a small business lending platform in an investigation conducted by the DOJ and SEC related to potential fraud.
  • Represented a global bank employee in an investigation conducted by the CFTC related to potential market manipulation.
  • Advised senior in-house counsel of global investment bank in connection with SEC investigation over-issuances of securities and internal control issues.
  • Represented an individual in a federal antitrust case charging price fixing and bid rigging in the supply of chickens to fast food chains.
  • Conducted an internal investigation on behalf of a multinational industrial manufacturing company into certain contractual practices with parts suppliers, including a review of antitrust issues associated with certain discount clauses in Master Purchasing Agreements.
  • Assisted Independent Monitor appointed by the U.S. District Court for the SDNY to oversee the New York City District Council of Carpenters and the affiliated Taft-Hartley benefit funds, in connection with the 1994 Consent Decree that installed oversight over anti-corruption measures designed to combat organized crime’s influence over the union.
  • Served as a member of the Monitor team appointed in 2021 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan under a consent decree to oversee the International Union, United Automobile, and Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, with specific responsibility to oversee the union’s historic union-wide referendum election and their first ever union-wide national mail-in ballot officer election.

Lisa's Insights

Firm News | 8 min read | 08.15.24

The Best Lawyers in America 2025 Recognizes 42 Crowell & Moring Attorneys, Three Selected as Lawyer of the Year

Washington – August 15, 2024: The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 42 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 29 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”...

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