Katie McDougall

Full Profile

Katie’s practice covers the full spectrum of sanctions legal and commercial work, from drafting and implementing policies, framework and procedures, to conducting risk assessments, corporate due diligence (both buyer and seller side), board level presentations and decision making,  business wide-training, advising on specific issues for transactions/projects/financings, drafting and negotiating contractual terms, responding to investigations (both regulatory and UNSC), and conducting disputes. 

Katie advises global clients across all sectors, but particularly in the energy, natural resources, banking and transport sectors. She has extensive experience advising on the sanctions aspects of various energy and natural resource projects (and related industries, including financing, transport and insurance), for joint venture partners, lenders and contractors, and has dealt with OFSI, OFAC and various EU regulators in relation to such projects. Katie also specialises in advising various shipping and aviation businesses, and their banks or relevant export credit agencies, on trade and financing related to sanctioned jurisdictions, sanctioned trade and/or sanctioned parties. 

Katie has been in-house Sanctions Legal Counsel for a global reinsurance company and one of the world's leading beverage multi-nationals, addressing all internal sanctions issues (including for operations in high risk jurisdictions), and running compliance projects to implement and enhance all aspects of their sanctions compliance processes. 

Katie is ranked in the 2024 and 2025 Chambers UK Guide for Sanctions. Her clients note to Chambers that "Katie is a go-to person for actionable and practical advice on sanctions“ and “she has strong commercial knowledge and she is responsive”.

Admissions:

• England and Wales 15 May 2019 
• Supreme Court of Western Australia 2007 
• Federal Court of Australia 2008 
• High Court of Australia 2008 

Education:

• University of Western Australia, Bachelor of Law

Experience

• Sanctions advisor to global European based shipping business, drafting the template sanctions policy and procedures to be tailored and implemented by individual business lines (and advising individual business lines on implementation following the identification of specific risk areas), annual training, specific board training, conducting risk assessments and audits for key business lines and providing regular ongoing advice for specific transactions for different business lines. 
• Sanctions Legal counsel for one of the world's leading reinsurance providers, providing ongoing sanctions advice on all insurance, reinsurance and other sanctions related matters, and assisting to enhance sanctions compliance procedures.
• Sanctions Legal Counsel for multinational beverage company, advising on all sanctions related matters, including in high risk jurisdictions, and leading a project to assess, enhance and implement all aspects of a sanctions compliance programme. 
• Providing EU, UK and US sanctions advice to Lenders and the Facility Agent in connection with existing pre-export finance facilities with a party restricted by Russia sanctions and syndicate lenders also targeted by sanctions, including licence applications and engaging with regulators.  
• Advising a UK based protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance provider in connection with their response to RFIs from OFSI regarding suspected breaches of the Russian Oil Price Cap.
• Advising a large energy company on the long-term offtake agreements for its multi-billion dollar LNG project, including drafting and negotiating sanctions provisions for LNG SPAs, charter parties, shipbuilding contracts, agreements for use of trans-shipment terminals, security documents and shareholder agreement provisions for LNG marketing and shipping.
• Advising aviation group in relation to a UN Panel of Experts investigation into apparent violations of the UN arms embargo on Libya by one of the client’s customers, including assembling a multi-jurisdictional team, advising with respect to obligations and potential liability exposure under 5 separate sanctions regimes; corresponding with the UN Panel of Experts’ lead investigator, addressing media strategy and dealing with confidentiality and reputational issues. 
• Advising a multilateral development bank on all the sanctions and related provisions for each document comprising its trade facilitation program, including interaction between the clauses of the various documents and taking into account current market position. 
• Advising a major airline on the potential impact of current and future US/China-related sanctions, including the risk for foreign financial institutions under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act. 
• Advising a global charity organisation on sanctions aspects of the provision of services to countries subject to EU and US sanctions and assisting the organization to mitigate issues, including liaising with OFAC.