Kavitha brings an insider’s perspective—and a business-minded approach—to complex financial services matters. With more than 15 years in the field, her background spans senior in-house leadership at nationally recognized banks and FinTech firms, private practice, and government relations. She helps clients navigate regulatory change, launch and scale products, structure strategic partnerships, and manage legal risk—all with an eye toward achieving the business objective, not simply avoiding the regulatory obstacle.
Her deep experience spans consumer finance, bank regulation, payments, digital assets, data privacy, artificial intelligence (AI) governance, and transactional matters involving financial services and FinTech companies. She has worked inside a bank, advised FinTech companies that rely on bank partnerships, represented credit unions, and worked with federal regulatory agencies. That experience gives her a firsthand understanding of how regulatory requirements, business objectives, and consumer considerations can look different from different sides of the table—and how to bring those perspectives together to solve problems. She also has significant experience drafting and negotiating the agreements that underpin these relationships, including bank-FinTech partnership agreements.
Kavitha’s career in financial services began in Washington, DC, during the financial crisis, where she worked on financial regulatory reform and followed the congressional hearings shaping the industry’s response. That experience led her to pursue a legal career at the crossroads of policy, regulation, and financial services. She attended law school at night while continuing to work on financial regulatory matters during the day, developing an early appreciation for the practical application of law to business and policy challenges.
As an in-house lawyer, Kavitha worked alongside business teams to launch regulated products, build compliance and risk frameworks, structure partnerships, and understand how products actually reach and impact consumers. She worked with regulators and executives, monitored any consumer feedback, and translated complex legal requirements into processes and products that work in practice. These experiences inform her approach to legal advice: Rather than simply determining what a business can or cannot do, she focuses on finding a thoughtful path forward that balances regulatory requirements, business objectives, and risk tolerance. She views the lawyer-client relationship as a shared endeavor, taking ownership of issues while working closely with in-house counsel, business leaders, and boards to develop solutions that protect the organization and support its growth.
Kavitha also advises clients at the growing intersection of financial services, technology, and data, including on data privacy and governance and issues arising from the use of consumer data and AI to develop financial products and services. As regulatory frameworks evolve and new technologies reshape the industry, she helps clients assess risk, identify opportunities, and turn legal uncertainty into practical strategies for moving forward responsibly.