Consumer Financial Services

To be successful, consumer financial services companies strive to offer new and innovative products and services through traditional and online channels. Banks and thrifts, mortgage companies, consumer lenders, credit card issuers, payments networks, auto lenders, technology companies and leasing entities regularly turn to Goodwin for counsel. We provide regulatory advice involving the development of new products, assist with the chartering and licensing of new financial services companies, draft compliance policies and procedures, conduct compliance reviews, and counsel on privacy and cybersecurity matters. Our attorneys regularly represent consumer financial services companies and trade associations — including the Electronic Funds Transfer Association and the Consumer Bankers Association — before Congress and federal and state regulatory agencies.

Goodwin has one of the largest consumer financial services litigation practices in the country, defending clients in class actions in multi-million dollar lawsuits, and federal and state government enforcement actions in jurisdictions across the country. Many of the suits we defend are high-stakes and present groundbreaking issues with industry-wide impact. We also represent consumer financial services clients in mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, asset purchases and sales, warehouse lending agreements, joint ventures, joint marketing agreements and outsourcing arrangements.

Chambers USA

Consistently recognized by Chambers USA for our leading Banking and Consumer Financial Services lawyers and described by clients as “a mighty force in banking and securities regulation, compliance, and consumer financial services work.”
Legal 500

“[Goodwin's] consumer finance litigation group handles the full range of private litigation and governmental investigations for mortgage companies, credit card companies and banks, and has been at the forefront of the market for almost two decades.”
U.S. News - Best Lawyers®

Tier 1 in Banking + Finance, Financial Services Regulation and M+A, 2018.

Consumer financial services companies face a broad spectrum of issues unique to the industry, and you need counsel that understands the challenges the industry faces. With one of the most preeminent consumer financial services litigation practice groups in the nation, our lawyers know your industry. With experience in regulatory counseling and examinations, government investigations, enforcement proceedings, and litigation, we defend many of the nation’s largest financial institutions, including prominent banks, mortgage companies, credit card issuers, and insurers, in high-stakes consumer financial services litigation cases and government enforcement actions across the country.

Mortgage lenders face a broad spectrum of issues unique to the industry, and you need counsel that understands the challenges the industry faces. Goodwin has one of the preeminent Consumer Financial Services Practices in the nation, providing a comprehensive range of transactional, regulatory compliance and litigation services to the mortgage lending, servicing and settlement service industries. Our lawyers focus on helping these industries maximize their business potential through assistance with transactions, navigation of the regulatory landscape, including risk management.

From the world’s largest financial institutions, to dynamic regional and middle market institutions, to community-based banks and thrift institutions, banks of all sorts face a range of regulatory and competitive challenges. Goodwin’s accomplished banking team regularly advises on M&A, corporate finance, securities offerings and regulation, corporate governance, banking regulation, commercial lending, complex bank products and services, consumer financial services, privacy and cybersecurity, risk and compliance management, investment management activities, holding company formations, de novo bank formations, antitrust analysis and litigation. We regularly represent financial institutions before the Federal Reserve, the OCC, the FDIC and various state banking regulators, the CFPB and securities regulatory agencies. In the litigation context, our lawyers have litigated nearly every type of major litigation issue brought against financial institutions both large and small, including business, consumer financial services, ERISA, M&A, privacy, data security, securities and white collar litigation.

Companies often face complex disputes with other businesses, government entities, or groups of individuals, which require an understanding of both the business issue and the industry of the client. Our Business Litigation practice specializes in handling these complex disputes, representing leaders in diverse industry sectors, including many Fortune 100 companies, in connection with their most important litigation matters. What sets us apart from our peers is our depth of trial and arbitration experience, class action expertise, and connections to the specialized business litigation courts across the country.

For many consumer finance businesses, government investigations and enforcement actions are an unfortunate reality in today’s world, and you need a partner that will help you manage the risks associated with such matters. Goodwin has substantial experience representing banks, non-bank lenders and servicers, student loan companies, credit card issuers, auto finance companies, debt collectors, non-traditional finance companies, and other market participants in responding to government investigations, defending enforcement actions, and managing administrative, criminal, and private proceedings.

Accusations that a financial services company’s policies or practices are discriminatory or otherwise unfair, deceptive, or abusive can not only be costly, but also can damage a company’s reputation. Goodwin’s leading Fair & Responsible Lending practice has experience helping clients confront and manage these risks. Our practice is nationwide in scope, including matters involving many federal and state agencies and officials.

The financial services industry is experiencing an unprecedented technology revolution. Recent studies predict that worldwide IT spending for financial services will reach $500 billion before decade’s end, and FinTech investment has tripled globally since 2008.

The increased complexity of financial products, stringent oversight and regulation, and the need to improve profitability and streamline processes are driving financial institutions and financial services participants to deploy a growing range of finance-related software. As one of the only law firms with market-leading technology and financial institutions practices, Goodwin has been advising clients in the FinTech sector for over a decade and has extensive experience working with both established and emerging businesses in virtually all market segments.

Intellectual property assets represent significant value for businesses in the United States. For some clients, these assets represent an entire career or a body of research; for others, they're a 100-year-old trademark, or a newly acquired license. Whether it’s structuring transactions or resolving high-stakes property disputes, we understand the unique needs of each client, and anticipate how those needs will change over time. With superior experience– from scientists who’ve worked in the field, to litigators with International Trade Commission and federal court experience – we’re privileged to represent national and international companies in a broad cross-section of industries.

Management teams of all sizes and across a broad spectrum of industries rely on Goodwin for advice and representation in all areas of labor and employment law. We provide practical advice to employers on hiring and disciplinary practices, compensation, workplace violence, privacy concerns, issues arising under the Family and Medical Leave Act, loyalty issues, and protection of employer good will and proprietary information via restrictions on post-employment competition.

Our lawyers have extensive employment litigation experience involving all significant employment law issues, including reasonable accommodation of disabilities; sexual harassment; discrimination claims arising out of reductions in force; individual disparate treatment claims; wrongful discharge/public policy claims; employment contract and employee benefits claims; wage and hour disputes; and enforcement of noncompetition obligations.

Goodwin lawyers have deep experience guiding clients through both public and private mergers and acquisitions transactions of all types including leveraged buyouts, tender offers, spinoffs, divestitures and go-privates (both in the U.S. and abroad). Our lawyers bring a distinctive combination of regulatory and transactional expertise, characterized by a high degree of tax and financial sophistication, and a commercial negotiating style that is essential for success. We blend technical know-how and specific industry experience to get deals done quickly and efficiently. We draw on a firm-wide network of specialists in tax, intellectual property, real estate and executive compensation to help clients find practical, innovative solutions to their problems.

As businesses today face an increasingly sophisticated threat environment compounded by aggressive regulatory enforcement, companies need a partner who can help mitigate risk and respond to the unthinkable. Our Privacy + Cybersecurity practice is one of the longest-standing of any AmLaw 50 firm. Dating back to the late 1990s and established formally in 2004, our practice is fully integrated and leverages the firm's core strengths, with the group's lawyers coming from our technology, financial institutions, licensing, litigation, regulatory and appellate practices. Our unique approach, focusing on client needs and value, enables us to engage specialists whose experience is framed by a holistic understanding of clients' greatest risks in this threatening environment.

Consumer Financial Services Litigation

Mortgage Banking

Banking

Business + Commercial Litigation

Consumer Financial Services Enforcement + Government Investigations

Fair + Responsible Lending

FinTech

Intellectual Property

Labor + Employment

Mergers + Acquisitions

Privacy + Cybersecurity