Kaitlin McDonnell

Kaitlin McDonnell is an associate in the New York office who joined Ford O’Brien Landy LLP in 2024. She began as a summer associate and continued as a law clerk during her final year of law school before joining the firm full-time. Kaitlin focuses on complex commercial and civil securities litigation, government and regulatory investigations and compliance, and white-collar criminal defense.

While at Ford O’Brien Landy LLP, Kaitlin has assisted with the following representations:

• A former foreign government official indicted on bribery and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York
• An individual indicted on federal healthcare fraud and AntiKickback Statute charges in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey
• A CEO of a large oil and gas corporation in a civil forfeiture action seeking to recover a $300 million dollar asset that was seized by the United States Department of Justice
• An OFAC-sanctioned foreign bank in a civil tort action alleging violation of the Antiterrorism Act, working through complex AML and international sanctions compliance issues
• A sanctioned foreign investment company in several actions for discovery under 28 U.S.C. 1782
• A third-party independent investigation for a non-for-profit entity

Prior to joining the firm, Kaitlin gained experience in federal court as a judicial extern for the Honorable José R. Almonte in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Additionally, Kaitlin externed for Erskine Chambers in London where she was exposed to international corporate law, assisted with company law advisory opinions, and accompanied barristers to various proceedings in the High Court of Justice.

Kaitlin holds a J.D. from Rutgers Law School in Newark, New Jersey. She served on the editorial board of the Rutgers Business Law Review, drafted supplemental questions and attended the 82nd Session of the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva, completed international research and writing courses that culminated in trips to Cuba and the Constitutional Court of South Africa, served as an executive board member of the Rutgers Law Society for Corporate Law and Governance, contributed as a member of the Rutgers Law School Women’s Law Forum, represented Rutgers Law School as Student Ambassador to the New York City Bar Association, practiced under attorney supervision as a student clinic lawyer for the Rutgers Law School Entrepreneurship Clinic, and was a Teaching Assistant for first year students in Property Law.

Kaitlin received her undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice, cum laude, from Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She began her career as a legal coordinator in the General Counsel’s Office of American Express Company in New York from 2019-2022 and left to pursue law school full-time.

In her spare time, Kaitlin enjoys traveling the world, tending to her plants, shopping, and reading psychological thrillers.