What We Do
- Regulatory
Compliance - Fair
Lending - Litigation &
Enforcement - Fintech &
Insurtech - Corporate &
Transactional - Labor &
Employment - Mortgage
Regulatory - Compliance Direct
Program
Regulatory Compliance
Banks, credit unions, non-bank lenders, fintech and other financial services companies must contend with a maze of complex regulatory requirements. Whether your institution is facing a federal or state examination, looking to embark on a new strategic initiative, designing an innovative product or new technology, assessing and enhancing the strength of your compliance management system; or simply have a thorny compliance question, our attorneys have decades of collective experience helping clients navigate these often-competing demands through actionable and cost-effective advice and strategic support. At Mitchell Sandler, we don’t just understand the law, we understand the practical realities of the industry and your business.
Our team has extensive experience advising and representing clients on a wide array of regulatory, compliance management, supervisory, strategic, and licensing matters, among others.
Our Services
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Provide regulatory and compliance advice to banks, credit unions, financial services and financial technology companies, and third-party service providers
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• Help clients prepare for and manage regulatory exams
• Draft management responses to Supervisory Letters and Reports of Examination
• Advise clients on regulatory questions pertaining to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), Fair Housing Act (FHA), Truth in Savings Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), Dodd-Frank Act provisions prohibiting unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices (UDAAP), Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), and other consumer protection laws and regulations
• Response to preliminary finding letters, 15-day letters and other pre-enforcement correspondence
• Advise clients on strategies for disputing or restoring CRA, compliance and CAMELS ratings with their examiners
• Draft formal and informal supervisory appeals
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• Advise clients on fair and responsible banking issues, including matters that involve disparate impact, disparate treatment, redlining, pricing, underwriting, steering, product development, sales and marketing, social media, overdraft and other deposit account practices, credit reporting, servicing, collections, loss mitigation, and unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices
• Provide fair and responsible banking training to staff, executives and boards of directors
• Build and maintain fair lending monitoring and testing programs
• Advise clients on regulatory expectations and best practices for corrective action and remediation for self-identified program weaknesses and regulatory violations
• Develop Special Purpose Credit Programs
• Conduct fair lending and UDAAP risk assessments
• Assist clients in their interactions with consumer groups and civil rights groups
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• Assist clients in developing, assessing, and enhancing compliance management systems, compliance programs, vendor management programs, and complaint management programs
• Draft and revise policies and procedures governing compliance with consumer protection statutes and regulations
• Perform due diligence of companies in connection with a potential acquisition and represent clients that are the subject of a due diligence in connection with a potential business partnership or acquisition
• Advise clients on board governance and management issues
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• Advising clients on bank regulatory issues, including supervisory appeals and relations, merger and acquisition strategy, affiliate transactions, brokered deposits, federal preemption and rate exportation, and industrial loan company matters, including questions pertaining to the Federal Reserve Act (FRA), Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA), National Bank Act, Bank Holding Company Act (BHCA), and other banking laws and regulations
• Assist banks with transition into Consumer Financial Protection Bureau jurisdiction upon crossing $10 billion in assets or other thresholds for becoming a supervised entity
• Advise clients on de novo banking applications, branch applications, merger and acquisition applications, licensing applications, and applications to change primary bank regulators
Fair Lending
Banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, and other financial services companies currently face a difficult regulatory and enforcement environment while seeking to maintain and grow their businesses in a challenging rate environment. Whether your company is facing a fair lending examination, looking to identify and mitigate fair lending risk, seeking an evaluation of its fair lending program, defending an investigation by the Department of Justice or other enforcement agency, negotiating a conciliation agreement with a community group, or needing representation in individual or class action litigation, our attorneys collectively have decades of experience to help you navigate thorny compliance, enforcement, and litigation matters.
Our Fair Lending team leverages the experience of former senior level enforcement and regulatory attorneys, experienced fair lending litigators, former in-house counsel and trusted compliance advisers to provide clients with a one-stop shop for their fair lending matters. Our attorneys represent clients on issues involving disparate impact, disparate treatment, redlining, appraisal bias, branching, modeling, pricing, underwriting, steering, product development, sales and marketing, social media, servicing, collections, and loss mitigation. We partner with our clients to provide them with tailor-made solutions to their legal needs.
Our Services
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Our firm counsels clients on a wide range of fair lending regulatory and compliance matters, including examination preparation and management, responses to preliminary finding letters, action plans for examination findings and enforcement actions, fair lending risk assessments, minority market lending strategies, oversight of consultants on fair lending testing and regression analyses, model governance, development of Special Purpose Credit Programs, legal interpretations of the fair lending laws and regulations, and board and staff training.
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Our Fair Lending team includes many of the country’s leading fair lending enforcement attorneys who have collectively defended banks, mortgage companies and financial service companies in over 100 matters before the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve Board, state attorneys general, and state banking agencies. Our firm represents clients on matters across the full spectrum of lending products, including mortgage and other residential secured loans, credit cards, auto finance, unsecured loans, and small business and commercial loans.
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Our litigators have a wealth of experience representing banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, finance companies and fintechs in high stakes litigation and threatened litigation on a wide range of matters including appraisal bias, redlining, pricing and underwriting discrimination, maternity leave discrimination, disability discrimination, and more. We also work extensively with clients who have received draft complaints or other notices of threatened litigation from civil rights or consumer protection organizations and help them avoid litigation through pre-suit settlements and other resolutions.
Litigation & Enforcement
Our attorneys have extensive experience representing clients on government enforcement actions, complex civil litigation, and class action lawsuits across the nation. Our team has served as lead counsel on dozens of enforcement investigations for banks, fintechs, mortgage companies, and individuals in claims involving consumer protection laws, labor and employment laws, breach of contract, intellectual property, and more. Our team represents clients in high-stakes government investigations, internal investigations, and litigation with federal and state agencies.
Our Services
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We represent financial service clients in state and federal government investigations involving alleged violations of consumer protection statutes and regulations, BSA/AML obligations, safety and soundness requirements and licensing requirements
Assist clients with responses to government requests for data and documents and interrogatories
Prepare responses to preliminary finding letters, 15-day letters and NORA letters
Provide strategic advice to companies negotiating terms of Memorandums of Understanding and consent orders with state and federal regulators and enforcement agencies
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Conduct internal investigations involving employee complaints, whistleblower allegations, BSA/AML matters and enterprise-wide compliance issues
Prepare reports of internal investigations for delivery to boards of directors, regulators, enforcement agencies and consumer advocacy organizations
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Defend and advise financial service providers in a broad array of complex litigation issues, including RICO, TILA, FDCPA, BSA/AML, ECOA, UDAAP laws, and common-law torts
Defend mortgage lenders and servicers in complex litigation, class actions, and appellate litigation
Defend clients in individual and class action cases involving labor and employment law claims
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Defend mortgage servicers and lender-placed insurance providers in dozens of putative class actions and parallel government investigations (including state regulatory agencies) regarding lender-placed insurance practices
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Defend executives of publicly traded companies in securities class actions and parallel SEC investigations into securities fraud issues
Related Team Members
Fintech & Insurtech
Our attorneys have deep experience advising clients on the business models, innovations, and trends reshaping the financial services landscape today. From fintech to regtech to insurtech, our attorneys have been on the frontlines of the changes impacting the ways financial products and payments technology are delivered and consumed in the United States and globally. Our fintech practice combines deep subject matter expertise with broad market visibility to help our clients navigate the often complex regulatory, operational, and investment risks that can arise when building something new.
Our team has broad experience advising clients on a wide range of matters related to fintech, insurtech, and regtech business models and trends, including, among others.
Our Services
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We provide strategic legal and business advice to fintechs in a start-up phase to help them evaluate their business model, licensing requirements, and other requisite foundational requirements for launching their business
Perform state law surveys of licensing and other legal requirements
Facilitate introductions of clients to potential bank partners and service providers
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Serve as fractional outside counsel to fintech companies through all stages of development from formation to exit on a broad array of corporate, regulatory, legal, strategic, and investor matters
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Assist clients in navigating and complying with the complex maze of federal and state banking and financial services laws and regulations, as well as develop and strengthen their compliance processes and practices
Represent clients during investor and bank regulatory due diligence reviews
Develop compliance management systems, compliance programs, vendor management programs, complaint management programs
Draft policies and procedures to govern regulatory compliance, business operations, credit risk and third-party relationships
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Advise clients, explore, negotiate, and implement relationships with banks, lenders, third-party service providers, and other financial services companies
Draft and negotiate contracts and other written agreements with business partners and service providers
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Advise clients on the development and launch of their products, services and technology in a manner that complies with state and federal regulations and leverages strategies that get them to market as quickly as possible
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Advise clients on a variety of state and federal lender, servicer, broker, and money transmission licensing and registration matters in the context of novel products, services, and business models
Assist clients in preparing licensing and registration applications, draft communications with licensing authorities, and oversee necessary steps to obtain agency approvals
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Represent fintechs in pre-enforcement matters, voluntary information requests, third party investigative demands, investigations and enforcement actions brought by federal and state regulatory and enforcement authorities, including the CFPB, DOJ, FTC, state departments of financial services and state Attorneys General
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Corporate & Transactional
Our Corporate and Transactional practice blends experience in a wide range of transactional matters with the understanding that clients in the financial services industry often have particular needs related to the unique and multi-dimensional regulatory environment in which they operate. We represent public and private company clients including banks, Fintechs, private equity and other investors, marketplace lenders, mortgage companies, money transmitters, vendors and other service providers in structuring, negotiating, and documenting transactions and business relationships.
We bring unique value through our collaboration with Mitchell Sandler’s Fintech, Regulatory Compliance and Mortgage Regulatory practice groups, including attorneys and other professionals that bring extensive experience with state licensing, GSE and agency approvals, and vendor due diligence expectations. We are a business focused law firm with regulatory and Fintech expertise that brings a holistic approach to every assignment.
Our Services
Related Team Members
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We assist clients in structuring, negotiating, documenting and closing mergers, stock and other equity interest purchases and sales, asset purchases and sales, spin-offs and other transactions, as well as transition services and other agreements related to those transactions.
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We assist clients in raising funds through the offering, issuance and sale of equity and other securities, in purchases and sales of minority interests in other companies, and in joint venture initiatives.
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We advise both buyers and sellers in purchases and sales of loans and servicing rights (including mortgage loans and mortgage servicing rights), receivables, and other assets across a broad spectrum of companies operating in the financial services industry.
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We represent service providers and their counterparties in the negotiation and documentation of all manner of services contracts, program and platform agreements, including master services agreements, program agreements, servicing and subservicing arrangements, SaaS and PaaS agreements, and private-label solutions. We leverage our deep knowledge of regulatory expectations and guidance related to many aspects of these services arrangements.
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Together with our Fintech group, we advise clients exploring, negotiating, and implementing relationships with banks, lenders, third-party service providers and other financial services companies, and negotiate and document the necessary agreements to get the product to market while navigating a dynamic regulatory environment. Our client engagements include both banks and Fintechs seeking collaborative business relationships.
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We provide guidance to clients in choosing the right structural approach to a new business or potential acquisition, be it a limited liability company, corporation or other entity, and on selecting the right management and governance structure to manage business and regulatory risks. We also partner with our Fintech, Regulatory Compliance and Mortgage Regulatory practice groups in counseling clients on considerations with respect to ownership and control that may be of unique concern in the regulated financial services industry.
Labor & Employment
Our labor and employment attorneys have a broad range of experience representing diverse industries, with a particular focus on the financial services industry, having represented such companies for decades.
Our team has a deep understanding of federal and state labor and employment laws , but they are also familiar with and sensitive to the regulatory, financial, and competitive forces affecting financial services clients. For example, our ability to navigate loan officer compensation rules and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, in conjunction with the Fair Labor Standards Act and other wage-hour laws. We provide clients with expansive and diverse experience that comes from decades of collective experience among our attorneys.
Our experience expands far beyond advisory services, drafting agreements and evaluating internal policies and procedures. In the litigation context, our attorneys understand how federal and state regulations impact the merits of a case and its strategy without needing the benefit of explanation. From issue-spotting to the application of specific strategies and considerations of risk and opportunity, our synthesis of diverse experience empowers our clients and provides them an advantage in the boardroom and the courtroom.
When you partner with Mitchell Sandler, we treat you the way we would want to be treated as a client. We believe that service means getting answers before you have to ask, getting practical advice you can use and understand, and getting straight, specific business answers in a cost-efficient manner. At Mitchell Sandler, we are looking for clients who are partners, and who will see us in the same vein. This collaborative working relationship allows our clients to not only solve problems but avoid having them start altogether.
Related Team Members
Mortgage Regulatory
Mitchell Sandler’s Mortgage Regulatory Practice Group offers legal representation and counseling to ensure our clients in the mortgage industry remain compliant, effective, and successful in light of ongoing regulatory changes. From representing clients before federal and state agencies to advising businesses on corporate transactions regarding the latest rules affecting their industries, our approach combines attorney insight across practice areas with the goal of enhancing the value of each client’s business.
Our Services
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We represent mortgage lenders, servicers, and related companies before federal and state regulatory authorities, including the CFPB, HUD, the Department of Justice, FDIC, FTC, the Federal Reserve, and state Attorneys General during investigations and enforcement proceedings.
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• We assist clients in implementing policies and procedures in compliance with various federal regulations and agency guidelines, including TRID, Qualified Mortgage Rules, HUD FHA Mortgagee guidelines, RESPA Anti-Kickback provisions, FCRA and FACTA Act requirements, FinCen Anti-Money Laundering requirements and Privacy rules. We also develop and review disclosures, policies, and procedures to comply with state consumer protection and mortgage banking requirements. We also assist clients with state examinations.
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Our attorneys are authorities on compensation and related wage, employment, and classification issues for loan officers, branch managers and other mortgage industry participants.
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We represent clients on claims pertaining to consumer protection statutes, and collaborate with our employment litigation team to defend clients on employment and labor claims that often also implicate regulatory issues.
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We review our clients’ compliance management practices to ensure ongoing compliance with regulatory requirements, and help our stay ahead of issues as they occur in real time. We also advise clients through state or federal regulatory audits.
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We advise clients on state lender, servicer, broker and other licensing requirements. We also assist with license applications, including, FHA and other agency approvals
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We provide advice on corporate governance, labor and employment, and due diligence review in connection with mergers and acquisitions
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In addition to defending our clients against claims of unfair lending practices, we identify fair lending issues and help lenders draft and implement updated policies and procedures.
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We work alongside our clients to design all types of consumer finance products, address uncertainties, and correct compliance errors before product launch.
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Looking for additional compliance assistance or to outsource the compliance function in its entirety? Learn more about our fixed-fee compliance solutions for lenders of all sizes here. Learn more
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Compliance Direct Program
A Flat Fee Solution for Mortgage Lenders of All Sizes
Today’s mortgage lenders face extraordinary demands. Not only do they need to stay on top of regulatory issues and mitigate risks, but lenders must spend time improving operational efficiencies while maintaining growth and profitability. As a result, many lenders lack the capacity to take a proactive approach to compliance, and instead must struggle to handle issues as they arise.
With Mitchell Sandler Compliance Direct, lenders receive the services and support they need to adhere to all federal and state regulations, and gain the freedom to scale their business at a fixed-cost so they can easily budget for compliance.
Why Mitchell Sandler’s Compliance Direct Program?
Our attorney-led compliance solutions allow lenders to augment an existing compliance program or outsource the compliance function. Our mortgage compliance solutions are available for a fixed fee and include holistic service offerings enabling clients to obtain ongoing structure, and assistance, while providing the latest information on trends and developments to complement internal processes. Right-sized for any situation, our Compliance Direct program can grow with and adapt to your business, providing the benefits of both an in-house and outsourced compliance solution.
Let us assist you in navigating the rules and regulations so you can focus on what you do best!
Some of our Flat-Fee Services include:
Compliance Management System (CMS) Risk Assessment
Compliance Testing
Federal and State Policies
Advisory Support
Employee Training
…and more