Karin Swope

Karin Swope is the Managing Counsel of the Seattle office of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP where she represents clients in nationwide antitrust and consumer protection litigation, securities litigation, privacy litigation and intellectual property counseling. Karin has represented clients for over 30 years in proceedings in state and federal courts across the country. She helps consumers fight against unfair and deceptive practices and has helped to change consumer protection law in the process.

Karin has served as lead counsel in prominent breach of fiduciary duty or securities matters against some of the country’s largest and most prominent financial institutions, including Regions Bank, Washington Mutual, and State Street Bank and Trust. In the State Street Bank and Trust matter, Karin secured an $89.75 all-cash settlement for class members. In re State Street Bank & Trust Co. ERISA Litig, 1:07-cv-09687-RJH (S.D.N.Y. Filed Aug. 22 2008). Karin also represented several of the Federal Home Loan Banks in sprawling litigation against underwriters, issuers, and sponsors of mortgage-backed securities valued at approximately $13 billion.

She has extensive experience litigating highly complex antitrust, consumer fraud and other class actions, with a particular focus on technology issues given her intellectual property background. She litigates against the largest technology companies in the country, including serving as co-lead counsel or on the executive committees in the In re Apple Device Performance Litigation No. 18-MD-2827 (N.D. Cal.), Google RTB Consumer Privacy Litigation No. 21-CV-02155 (N.D. Cal.); In re Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Privacy Litigation No. 20-cv-02155 (N.D. Cal) and In re Bank of America Unemployment Benefits Litigation No. 21-md-2992 (S.D. Cal.). CPM secured a class settlement amount of $310 million, with a maximum class settlement amount of $500 million in In re Apple Device Performance Litigation, which was a historic settlement amount.

She has served as an attorney for co-lead or as co-lead in antitrust actions including Google Play Consumer Antitrust Litigation, No. 20-cv-05761, (N.D. Cal.) and In re Shale Oil Antitrust Litigation, No. 24-MD-3119 (D. N.M.). CPM, along with the states, secured a class action settlement amount of $700 million for consumers and states in the Google Play Consumer Antitrust Litigation, which brought claims that Google inflated app store prices.

She has represented companies and sovereign nations in protecting their intellectual property rights. She has protected the retirement funds of employees whose employers had breached their fiduciary duties in violation of ERISA, in cases against Washington Mutual, State Street Bank and Regions Financial Corporation. She has represented shareholders in complex securities litigation, including disputes involving breach of fiduciary duty. Representative cases include In re Slack Securities Litigation and John Trotter (Ret.), Trustee of the PG&E Fire Victim Trust v. Williams et al.

Karin is currently and has served as Adjunct Professor at Seattle University School of law for over 17 years, where she teaches Copyright Law and in the Intellectual Property Art Law Clinic. She has previously served as President of Executive Committee of the Intellectual Property Section of the Washington State Bar Association and is currently a member of the Western Washington Federal Bar Association Local Rules Committee. She has presented and/or co-chaired numerous CLE’s on topics ranging from E-Discovery practices to Intellectual Property. Following her graduation from Columbia Law School, Karin served as a law clerk to the Honorable John C. Coughenour in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, and as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert E. Cowen of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Representative Matters

CPM Investigating Adobe for Deceptive Practices with Subscriptions and Inflated Termination Fees Preventing Consumers from Cancelling

CPM Investigating PayPal's Honey Browser Extension for Possibly Stealing Referral Fees

CPM Investigating NZXT’s Computer Rental Practices for Possible Consumer Fraud

PayPal Honey Affiliate Commission Theft Litigation

RetailMeNot Affiliate Commission Theft Litigation

Rakuten Affiliate Commission Theft Litigation

CPM Investigating Stellantis, Owner of Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator, for a Defect Affecting Fire Hazards to Thousands of Car Owners

NZXT Computer Rental Fraud Litigation

CPM Investigating Massive Data Breach at Hot Topic and Torrid

Apple AI False Advertising Litigation

CPM is Investigating TikTok for Possible Violations of Federal Law in the Collection of Information About Children

CPM Investigating Meta Platforms for Promoting Scam Advertisements

CPM Investigates Copyright Infringement By Salesforce in Training its Artificial Intelligence Models

CPM is Investigating a Massive Data Breach at AssuranceAmerica

CPM Investigates Copyright Infringement By Meta in Training its Artificial Intelligence Models

CPM Investigating Hims & Hers Sharing Patient Medical Data With Third Parties

CPM Is Investigating Kroger Grocery Stores for False Sale Tag Prices

Doxo Online Bill-Pay Fraud Litigation

Honors & Recognitions

2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers

Selected to Rising Stars and Super Lawyers lists in Super Lawyers - Washington, 2016, 2018-2022

In the News

05 May 2026

$250 Million Settlement Proposed in Apple AI False Advertising Case

24 Apr 2026

Historic Settlement with Google to Protect Privacy

04 Oct 2023

Consumers Sue Amazon for Inflated Prices and Anticompetitive Misconduct

13 Mar 2023

The San Mateo County Board of Education and the San Mateo Superintendent of Schools File Landmark Suit Against Social Media Companies

28 Feb 2023

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy Ranked One of the Top Securities Law Firms Nationwide by Institutional Shareholder Services

21 Apr 2022

Federal Court Grants Final Approval of Historic Privacy Settlement for Zoom App Users Nationwide

07 Jan 2022

CPM Defeats Amazon’s Motion to Dismiss In Consumer Class Action For Unfair or Deceptive Marketing of Batteries

02 Aug 2021

Historic Privacy Settlement Reached for Zoom App Users Nationwide