Stephen Mouritsen

Partner

Expertise: Commercial Litigation, Securities Litigation and Investigations
Licensed: New York Bar, Utah Bar
Education: JD, BYU Law; MA (linguistics), BYU

smouritsen@knh.law | (801) 994-4646

Stephen is a New York and Utah licensed attorney and a member of KNH’s litigation group specializing in corporate and commercial litigation, securities and investment disputes, government and internal investigations. He has represented investors and financial institutions at trial, in commercial arbitration, and in investigations brought by the DOJ, SEC, PCAOB, and state securities regulators. He has also conducted internal investigations for corporate clients related to potential securities, antitrust, and FCPA violations. He has also represented clients ranging from individual investors to a global fintech firm in matters related to cryptocurrency trade execution and compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, global sanctions regulations, and state money transfer license (MTL) laws.
Stephen is passionate about the intersection of law, language, technology, and finance, and Mr. Mouritsen has written and lectured extensively on these topics. His articles on cryptocurrency regulation and enforcement have appeared in the Global Investigations Review, while his articles on the intersection of law, language, and technology have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Chicago Law Review, the Columbia Science and Technology Law Review, and the Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Philosophy. His work has been cited by judges on the United States Supreme Court, various federal and state appellate courts, and in sources ranging from the Congressional Research Service’s report on Statutory Interpretation and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Stephen began his career in New York at the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Prior to joining KNH, Stephen was a partner Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He graduated magna cum laude from BYU Law, where he served as lead articles editor for the BYU Law Review. He holds a master’s degree in linguistics, and he is currently pursuing an LL.M. in corporate and commercial law from the London School of Economics.

HONORS & EDUCATION
  • JD, J Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University, magna cum laude
  • MA Linguistics at Brigham Young University
ADMISSIONS & PRACTICE
  • New York
  • Utah
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
  • FinTech Matters
    • DOJ Investigation of Cryptocurrency Exchange—Represented a global FinTech company in DOJ investigation related to BSA, AML, sanctions, and state money transfer license compliance.
    • Cryptocurrency Exchange Arbitration—Led New York JAMS arbitration related to cryptocurrency trade execution and New York BitLicense compliance.
  • Government Enforcement and Investigations
    • FCPA Investigation of Pharmaceutical Company—Represented a leading pharmaceutical company in DOJ and SEC investigation stemming from allegations of FCPA violations.
    • State Securities Investigation Against Healthcare Startup—Represented healthcare startup and successfully argued four separate summary judgment motions before the five state securities commissioners resulting in dismissal of all claims.
    • SEC Insider Trading Investigation—Represented transportation company in SEC investigation related to alleged insider trading.
    • PCAOB Investigation—Represented accounting firm in a PCAOB investigation related to alleged violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and PCAOB rules and standard.
    • SEC Insider Trading Investigation—Represented hedge fund management company in SEC investigation related to insider trading allegations.
    • Antitrust Investigation—Represented U.S. corporation in on-site, internal antitrust investigation of an Argentine subsidiary; conducted Spanish-language interviews of key personnel.
  • Securities Litigation and Arbitration
    • Ponzi Scheme Investor Suit—Represented victims’ group in jury trial against a financial coaching firm tied to a $1.5 billion Ponzi scheme.
    • FINRA Arbitration Against Broker-Dealer—Led FINRA arbitration against broker-dealer for violations of FINRA rules related to investment suitability and failure to supervise.
    • Ponzi Scheme Litigation—Represented victims’ group in a Ponzi suit, successfully arguing summary judgment against bank intermediary.
    • FINRA Arbitration Defense—Represented broker-dealer in FINRA arbitration arising from allegations of FINRA rules violations related to investment suitability and failure to supervise.
    • Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Litigation—Represented investment bank in federal and state cases alleging securities fraud in the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities.
  • Complex Litigation
    • GLP-1 Litigation—Represented a leading pharmaceutical company in nationwide litigation related to sale of compounded versions of GLP-1 weight loss medicines.
    • Chemical Manufacturer Litigation—Represented chemical manufacturer in suits alleging personal injury and class claims based on exposure to ethylene oxide from a production facility.
    • CERCLA Litigation—Represented a global computer manufacturing company in three federal bench trials and subsequent appeals related to a multi-party Superfund contribution dispute.

    Bankruptcy and Restructuring Litigation

    • Ponzi Scheme Receivership—Represented the state-appointed receiver recovering Ponzi assets in a case brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and state securities authorities.
    • Asbestos Trustee Litigation—Represented trustees of an asbestos settlement trust on behalf of injured plaintiffs in bench trial against a multinational manufacturer.
    • Restructuring Litigation—Represented materials manufacturer in $4.2 billion restructuring trial and subsequent appeal.
PUBLICATIONS
  • DOJ and SEC Crypto Exchange Enforcement in the United States, Global Investigations Review (2025), with Bob Allen, Zachary Brez, Charles Kalil & Jacquelyn Kasulis
  • Corpus Linguistics and Armchair Jurisprudence, The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Jurisprudence (2025), with Thomas R. Lee
  • DOJ and SEC Crypto Exchange Enforcement in the United States, Global Investigations Review (2024), with Bob Allen, Zachary Brez, Charles Kalil & Jacquelyn Kasulis
  • The Concept of Ordinary Meaning in Common Law Courts, Legal Terminology, 3 Handbook of Terminology, John Benjamins Publishing Company (2023)
  • Natural Language in Legal Interpretation, 85 Brooklyn Law Review 533 (2021)
  • The Corpus and the Critics, 87 University of Chicago Law Review 275 (2021), with Thomas R. Lee
  • Contract Interpretation with Corpus Linguistics, 94 Washington Law Review 1337 (2019)
  • Judging Ordinary Meaning, 127 Yale Law Journal 788 (2018), with Thomas R. Lee
  • Corpus Linguistics in Legal Interpretation, 6 Int’l J. of Lang. & Law 67 (2017)
  • Hard Cases and Hard Data, 13 Columbia Science & Technology Law Review 156 (2012)
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS AND PANELS
  • Presenter, Predicting Corpora, Symp. in Honor of Larry Solan, Brooklyn Law School (Nov. 2023)
  • Guest Speaker, discussing Judging Ordinary Meaning, Prof. William S. Eskridge’s Seminar on Statutory Interpretation, Yale Law School (Feb. 2022)
  • Discussant for Professor Jonathan Choi’s Computational Corpus Linguistics, Workshop on Computational Analysis of Law, University of Virginia Law School (Feb. 2021)
  • Panelist, The Role of Corpus Linguistics in Constitutional Interpretation, Corpus Linguistics & the Second Amendment, Duke Center for Firearms Law (June 2021)
  • Panelist, Corpus Linguistics in Legal Interpretation, Amer. Acad. of Appellate Lawyers (April 2021)
  • Panelist, Data-Driven Approaches to Legal Interpretation, Center for Law, Language, and Cognition, Brooklyn Law School (Mar. 2020)
  • Panelist, Corpus Linguistics and the Law, ABA Admin. Law Conf., Wash. DC (Nov. 2019
  • Panelist, Thinking Like a Linguist, Appellate Judges Edu. Inst., Wash. DC (Nov. 2019)
  • Moderator, Corpora in the Law, Int’l Lang. & Law Assoc. Conf., UCLA Law School (Sept. 2019)
  • Presenter, Toward a Corpus-Based Interpretive Framework for Legal Texts, Fabric of Law Conf., Academy of Sciences, Heidelberg, Germany (March 2016)
  • Presenter, Corpora in the Courts, Legal Corpus Pragmatics Conf., Universität Freiburg, Germany (April 2013)