Ketan Bhirud

The former Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a senior executive under both Republican and Democratic attorneys general in the Nevada AG’s Office, Ketan has guided clients through lawsuits and enforcement actions led by state AGs, the FTC, the CFPB, and other government agencies. He has litigated over one hundred matters as lead counsel, achieving significant wins at trial, including obtaining complete defense verdicts for defendants and hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries for plaintiffs.

At the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, Ketan supervised high-stakes litigation, investigations, and regulatory actions. This experience, underpinned by his more than ten years as a litigator in private practice, provides him with a deep understanding of the workings of state AG offices and the actions they bring. He is uniquely equipped to counsel clients to avoid high-risk practices that could lead to regulatory inquiry and defend them should they become subject to investigation or litigation. At the Department of Homeland Security, he supervised 1,400 attorneys over six agencies, conducting regulatory actions, investigations, litigation, and appeals, and advised numerous senior officials, including the DHS Secretary and Deputy Secretary.

Ketan’s clients span a wide range of industries, including technology, financial services, real estate, pharmaceuticals, automotive, tobacco, gaming, and insurance. He has particular knowledge of consumer finance regulation, having managed several multimillion-dollar investigations involving large financial institutions, including Nevada’s involvement in a $470 million joint state-federal settlement with a mortgage lender and servicer to address mortgage origination, servicing, and foreclosure abuses. He also has a deep understanding of the challenges facing companies operating in the gaming industry and drafted the first-ever US government opinion concerning whether daily fantasy sports constituted gambling while serving as counsel to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Ketan’s deep and broad subject matter knowledge encompasses the full panoply of issues that attract the attention of regulators, from antitrust to consumer protection and data privacy. He is thoughtful and creative in developing defensive strategies, and his proposed solutions have frequently been adopted by state AGs to bring new actions.  For example, in a recent action in which his client was alleged to have employed unfair business practices, Ketan asserted novel counterclaims that were successfully filed for the first time in the US. Several AGs took note of that action and are now pursuing similar claims against other companies in the industry.