Cooley LLP‘s financial services team handles a broad spectrum of regulatory matters, with a particular niche in fair banking and lending, where the practice has increasingly been advising on rules governing the use of AI and LLMs in loan decisions. The firm also defends banks and credit lenders facing regulatory enforcement, regularly liaising with the CFPB, OCC, and the Federal Reserve. The practice’s leadership group, based in Washington DC, consists of payments and lending expert Obrea Poindexter, who advises on matters under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and FCRA, and litigation and enforcement-focused Michelle Rogers, with Sean Ruff taking the lead on fintech regulation, including non-bank lending structures, EFTA matters, and AML compliance. Joshua Kotin is called upon by banks and consumer finance providers facing DOJ, CFPB, and FTC enforcement, while Kate Goodman maintains a broad practice that encompasses issues from licensing to litigation; both are based in Chicago.

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Key clients

  • Regions Bank
  • Bank of the West

Work highlights

  • Advised multiple banking, financial services and fintech clients on the implications of the SVB and Signature Bank failures.
  • Assisted clients with fair lending issues, including overseeing their expected regulatory testing frameworks, engaging with outside consultants and experts to support such testing, and assisting with new initiatives, such as AI and Learned Language Models.
  • Advised two non-bank mortgage lenders on their loan officer compensation practices to assess current practices’ compliance with the law.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Michelle Rogers, Obrea Poindexter, Sean Ruff

Other key lawyers

Joshua Kotin, Kate Goodman