Etienne Barg-Townsend

Etienne Barg-Townsend is Senior Counsel & Director at BMO Capital Markets Corp. and currently manages the U.S. Capital Markets litigation portfolio for BMO’s U.S. Institutional Investment Banking business. As in-house litigation counsel, she manages all of the litigation, employment, and pre-dispute matters that relate to the U.S. Capital Markets businesses. She also has considerable experience with matters involving broker-dealer regulation and compliance, regulatory and white collar investigations, advising on sales and trading matters, and drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements. Her prior roles have included acting as coverage attorney for the securitized products / mortgage-backed securities businesses, and as regulatory counsel for KGS-Alpha Capital Markets L.P., a mid-sized broker-dealer specializing in the sales and trading of mortgage-backed securities, which was acquired by BMO Capital Markets in 2018.

Prior to becoming an in-house lawyer, she worked as an attorney at Shearman & Sterling LLP, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, and Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP. She holds a Series 7 license. She holds a J.D. from Cornell Law School and a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University.