Karin Portlock is of counsel in the New York office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and is a member of the White Collar Defense and Investigations, Crisis Management, Labor and Employment, and Litigation Practice Groups.  Ms. Portlock’s practice focuses on internal corporate investigations, including sensitive workplace and government investigations, as well as criminal defense and regulatory enforcement matters.  Leveraging her experience as a former federal prosecutor, Ms. Portlock is equally comfortable leading complex and diverse investigations as she is advocating on behalf of her clients in all manner of court proceedings.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Ms. Portlock served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 2015 to 2020.  In that role, she prosecuted a broad range of federal criminal violations, including fraud, racketeering, and violent crimes.  Ms. Portlock tried multiple cases to verdict and handled numerous sensitive and complex investigations in coordination with the FBI and other federal and local law enforcement agencies.  She also argued multiple appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  Prior to her government service, she practiced for several years at another major international law firm, where she litigated a variety of complex civil cases as well as appeals before state and federal appellate courts.

Ms. Portlock received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and is a graduate of Columbia Law School where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Law Review, a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, and Chair of the Civil Rights Law Society.  Following law school, she clerked for Judges Amalya L. Kearse and Jon O. Newman, both of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  She later served as a member of the Second Circuit’s Pro Bono Panel.

Ms. Portlock currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Columbia Law Review Association and was previously a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School where she taught legal writing.

Ms. Portlock is admitted to practice in the State of New York and before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.