Financial Institutions and Services Litigation
Financial services companies face litigation challenges from the private and public sectors. To best navigate the legal landscape, we make it our business to understand your business.
Representing clients from all the major financial sectors, including full-service and specialty banking, mortgage banking, consumer finance, investment management, and private equity, our teams have achieved results at the international, national, and regional levels.
Unlike other law firms, our team members combine litigation skills and experience with subject matter knowledge to better help our clients evaluate risk, offer compliance solutions, and chart the best litigation path forward. From the boardroom to the courtroom, we draw from decades of experience to best advocate for our clients. Our diverse team of financial services litigators located across the globe stands ready to assist.
Decades of Class Action Defense and Consumer Financial Services Litigation Experience
Class action litigation is an integral part of our Financial Services practice. With hundreds of putative class actions from which to draw experience, we have defended financial services entities in all aspects of class action litigation, including dispositive motion practice, class certification, trial, and appeal. Our competitive advantage is the scope and depth of our litigation experience combined with our knowledge of consumer financial services law and the unique procedural rules governing class actions. Drawing on that experience and knowledge, K&L Gates published a treatise in 2018 entitled Defense of Class Action Litigation in Federal Court. The treatise, published by Bloomberg Law, provides a soup-to-nuts review of the myriad issues presented in federal class litigation.
Government Investigations and Enforcement
Our lawyers serve as outside counsel in a broad array of federal and state government investigations and enforcement actions. From the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, among other federal agencies, to state attorneys general and state banking and licensing departments throughout the country, our experience and depth of knowledge are brought to bear when navigating complex legal claims, burdensome document productions and discovery issues, presenting compelling defenses, and, when appropriate, negotiating settlements.
An Unparalleled Consumer Bankruptcy Practice
Among the top global law firms, K&L Gates is one of the few that houses a sophisticated consumer bankruptcy practice, serving as bankruptcy counsel and national litigation counsel for many of the largest financial institutions. We have handled some of the highest profile bankruptcy matters before the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees, the Office of the Currency Controller, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Our team assists clients in all aspects of consumer bankruptcy matters, including bankruptcy-related escrow and payment application advice; remediation of bankruptcy files under the oversight of federal regulators; redaction matters, including redaction initiatives in all 94 bankruptcy jurisdictions; review and validation of bankruptcy documents for OCC reviews and U.S. Trustee investigations; and on-site training of personnel and advice on operations.
Fair Lending Defense That Matters
Our lawyers provide sophisticated fair lending representation on a wide array of issues ranging from government examinations and enforcement, class action defense, price monitoring and other compliance programs, to day-to-day compliance advice. We have served as national coordinating counsel and defense counsel to one of the largest banks in connection with lawsuits filed by municipalities and other local governments under the Fair Housing Act. In that role, we coordinated a unified strategy for the defense of lawsuits in federal district courts, circuit courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. We also represent mortgage servicers in connection with purported U.S. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) claims that servicers have not offered loan modifications on an equitable basis, or maintained real-estate-owned properties equitably.
Trusted To Address Telephone Consumer Protection Act Risk
Our lawyers have a broad range of experience defending class action and individual litigation involving the sending of text messages, phone calls, and faxes allegedly in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). We regularly defend clients in TCPA lawsuits in federal and state courts and are well versed in the complexities of the defenses available under the statute and its regulations. Clients also look to us to provide counsel on internal policies and procedures and recordkeeping practices to confirm TCPA compliance and to reduce, if not eliminate, the risk of litigation exposure. To further offset risk, we also assist clients in obtaining contribution or indemnity from third parties and assist with obtaining insurance coverage for defense costs and for any underlying liability.
Strategic Top-Down Approach to the National Coordinating Counsel Role
Our firm has been at the forefront of advancing a strategic enterprise approach when acting as national coordinating counsel. We work toward cultivating resources, controlling costs, and anticipating, assessing, and controlling litigation risk. In short, we take a top-down strategic approach, partnering with our client’s legal department and company management. Among other examples, we have acted as national coordinating counsel and defense counsel for a loan servicer in connection with over 20 class actions filed in connection with the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, a national credit card issuer in connection with multistate actions asserting claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Credit Billing and other claims, and a large bank in connection with litigation arising from residential mortgage foreclosure practices.
