Consumer Financial Services

Our Consumer Financial Services team advises a broad array of financial services companies on a full range of compliance-related issues and in connection with commercial and consumer litigation and governmental investigations and enforcement actions. The firm is a recognized leader in the field of financial services defense litigation. Our team of attorneys is well-attuned to the fast pace of innovation in the current financial services marketplace, and we have positioned our firm at the leading edge of legal issues relating to all aspects of financial technology (“fin tech”). Our lawyers bring unparalleled knowledge and experience to assist you in accomplishing your critical objectives and managing business risk.

Our attorneys are experienced in counseling consumer financial services entities in matters such as unfair and predatory lending practices, privacy, cybersecurity, financing, including, but not limited to cannabis financing, cryptocurrencies, and judicial foreclosures and other debt collection efforts.

Responsible debt collection is an essential part of the nation’s financial ecosystem. Federal and state laws protect consumers against unfair debt collection practices, and litigation under these laws remains very active, implicating even the most ethical debt collection professionals. In 2010, Congress established a new federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), with broad regulatory, supervisory, and enforcement powers over debt collectors and other consumer financial service providers. Currently, the state of California is seeking to develop its own “mini-CFPB” with expansive authority over financial services regulation. This field is evolving rapidly, with new fin tech products and services emerging constantly, blurred lines among nontraditional financial services, and legal structures and standards that are struggling to adapt.

Our attorneys have substantial experience in dealing with the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), CFPB and other federal agencies on rulemaking, policy, and enforcement matters.

Our attorneys also have extensive experience defending financial services companies and others in cases premised on alleged violations of various consumer finance-related statutes such as the federal Fair Debt Collection Practice Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Rees-Levering Automobile Sales Finance Act, as well as more generally applicable consumer protection statutes like the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act and various states’ unfair trade practices laws, as they apply to the consumer financial services industry.

Our attorneys are experienced in handling litigation in both federal and state courts through trial and on appeal, and with offices in more than 50 cities across the United States, we have attorneys licensed to practice in most federal and state jurisdictions. Among other major matters, our attorneys participated in the litigation of the largest fidelity bond claim in history.

Consumer Financial Services