Matthew S. Sheldon

Matt Sheldon counsels many of the nation’s largest banks, mortgage lenders, and fintech companies on their most sensitive regulatory, enforcement, and litigation matters. His practice focuses on helping those clients successfully align their business goals and strategies within the complex framework of federal and state regulatory requirements. Much of his work centers on assisting clients with their regulatory relationships, whether in the examination, investigation, or enforcement context.

Matt is a partner in Goodwin’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation practice and he serves as co-chair of Goodwin’s Banking and Consumer Financial Services practice. He is also the Head of Goodwin’s Litigation Practice for the Washington, DC office.

Matt is top-ranked by both Chambers USA and The Legal 500 US, with Chambers recognizing him as “a very thoughtful regulatory and litigation attorney, with a practical mindset toward complicated and often ambiguous issues.”

Although Matt specializes in advising clients on residential mortgage lending matters, he counsels and represents clients regarding a broad array of consumer financial services and products, including credit cards, payment systems, insurance and reinsurance, and ERISA-covered retirement plans.

Matt regularly represents financial institutions facing regulatory proceedings and government investigations by federal and state administrative agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and state attorneys general. He also provides fair lending and regulatory compliance advice, including representing clients on matters relating to federal banking and consumer finance regulations, such as the FCRA, ECOA, RESPA, TILA and FDCPA, as well as state banking and consumer protection statutes.

In the litigation context, his practice focuses on defending financial service providers facing significant litigation matters, including class actions, in federal and state courts across the nation. His broad experience includes successfully defending a variety of clients in cases challenging fair lending compliance, financial product sales and marketing practices, reinsurance structures, and ERISA compliance.

Matt’s enforcement and litigation representations include:

• Currently representing multiple financial institutions in various confidential federal regulatory enforcement proceedings
• Successfully led the defense of mortgage lenders in multiple Fair Housing Act lawsuits filed by municipalities alleging discriminatory lending practices. Matt has helped secure dismissals in six such matters, including summary judgment decisions in three different matters
• Part of the Goodwin team that represented Quicken Loans, Inc. before the U.S. Supreme Court, in Freeman v. Quicken Loans, Inc. The case involved an important consumer credit question under RESPA, which the Court decided unanimously in Quicken’s favor
• Multiple mortgage lenders in putative class actions alleging mortgage insurance captive reinsurance arrangements violated RESPA; secured summary judgment on plaintiffs’ claims on statute of limitations grounds
• A mortgage lender in investigation by CFPB of mortgage brokerage relationship; proceeding was dropped without charges or action
• Mortgage lenders in numerous putative class actions challenging loan origination, servicing, modification, and/or foreclosure practices; dismissal secured and/or class certification denied in multiple actions
• Mortgage lenders in multiple Fair Housing Act lawsuits filed by municipalities alleging discriminatory lending practices
• Advisory counsel for Mortgage Bankers Association on regulatory comment and amicus issues
• The Joyful Heart Foundation in its nationwide “End the Backlog” project seeking to eliminate the accumulation of untested rape kits throughout the country
• Representative clients include Quicken Loans, Flagstar Bank, First Horizon National Corporation, PHH Mortgage Corporation, Mortgage Bankers Association, and IQor Holdings, Inc.

Matt greatly enjoys working with the non-profit Project Citizenship to assist individuals in becoming United States citizens, as well as the non-profit Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) as part of KIND’s Family Separation Response Team, which is working to reunify families separated under prior border policies. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.

Prior to joining Goodwin, Matt was an attorney with the law firm Williams Mullen, P.C.

Matt’s recent speaking engagements and publications include:

• Speaker, “Applied Compliance: RESPA – Lead Generation and the CFPB’s New Advisory Opinion,” MBA Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Conference, May 2023
• Speaker, “RESPA Advisory Opinion on Comparison Shopping and Lead Generation Platforms,” Mortgage Bankers’ Association Webinar, March 2023
• Co-Author, “CFPB Advisory Opinion Details RESPA Implications for Mortgage Comparison Websites,” Westlaw Today, February 22, 2023
• Speaker, “Consumer Financial Services Enforcement Outlook,” Webinar, October 2021
• Quoted, “Rohit Chopra-led CFPB cracking down early on data, automation,” Compliance Week, October 28, 2021
• Co-Author, “CFPB's New Foreclosure Limits Will Be Tough On Servicers,” Law360, July 1, 2021
• Co-Author, “Fair Lending Considerations in a COVID-19 World: Rules Still in Play,” JDSupra, July 2020
• Co-Author, “Fair Lending Considerations in a COVID-19 World: Fair Servicing and Consumer Relief in the U.S.,” Goodwin Client Alert, May 2020
• Co-Author, “Fair Lending Considerations in a COVID-19 World: U.S. Paycheck Protection Program Issues,” Goodwin Client Alert, April 2020
• Speaker, “Supreme Court and Appellate Courts Year in Review,” Goodwin Webinar, September 2019
• Speaker, Mortgage Bankers Association Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Conference, May 2019