Reed Smith LLP, a leading global law firm, has added Victoria Holstein-Childress as a partner in its Financial Industry Group (FIG) resident in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
She was formerly a partner in the Financial Services Litigation group of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP‘s Washington, D.C., office.
“Victoria expands the depth of our D.C. Financial Services Team, giving Reed Smith even stronger ‘inside the beltway’ capabilities,” said Perry Napolitano, global chair of the firm’s Financial Industry Group. “Combined with the recent addition in D.C. of other top FIG attorneys to our already strong firmwide financial services practice, her arrival provides further strength in an area where our financial services clients’ needs are continuing to grow.”
Ms. Holstein-Childress has an expansive practice representing financial services institutions and other corporate and individual clients in complex, high-stakes civil litigation and government enforcement actions. Her core emphases include mortgage-related and credit card class actions, and related government and regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings.
“My decision to join Reed Smith was completely client-driven,” said Ms. Holstein-Childress. “The companies I represent will benefit tremendously from Reed Smith’s global platform and from its extensive relationships and established leadership position serving the financial services sector. In an increasingly global economy, the financial services industry is facing challenges that require the broad and varied litigation, enforcement, and regulatory capabilities that Reed Smith provides. I am particularly delighted to be joining the firm’s D.C. FIG team as it increases its reach and influence in the nation’s capital.”
Ms. Holstein-Childress represents clients in diverse cases before state and federal courts in matters involving lending, loan servicing, securitization practices, insurance, securities sales, corporate fiduciary responsibilities, and failed and distressed banks. These representations often involve concurrent complex civil litigation and government enforcement investigations and proceedings. In the enforcement arena, she has handled matters before the FTC, SEC, DOJ, HUD, federal bank regulators, state attorneys general, and Congress.
A 2002 graduate of Tulane University Law School, Ms. Holstein-Childress had a successful career as a fashion designer in London and Paris, and established strong business relationships in the fashion industry within Europe and Asia before pursuing a legal career. Prior to joining Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, she was counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of BuckleySandler LLP, which she helped launch in 2009, together with other litigators from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP where she was an associate prior to launching BuckleySandler. From 2003-2004, she served as a law clerk to the Hon. Carl E. Stewart, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Ms. Holstein-Childress is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Louisiana, and Texas. Her professional and community activities include work with Women in Housing and Finance, 100 Women in Hedge Funds, and pro bono representation of nonprofit corporations and individuals in civil rights and business litigation.
In addition to Ms. Holstein-Childress, Reed Smith’s growing D.C. Financial Services Team includes Mary T. Payne, W. Thomas Conner, Terence M. Healy, Timothy J. Nagel, Leigh T. Hansson, and Tyree P. Jones.
Ms. Payne joined the D.C. FIG practice in April from Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, where her practice focused on representing financial services clients in a broad range of legal and regulatory issues relating to securities laws. She re-joined her former Sutherland colleague, W. Thomas Conner, with whom she has continued to build a robust practice specializing in commodities-based and securities-based exchange traded funds (ETFs), and variable annuity and life insurance investment products. Mr. Conner joined Reed Smith’s FIG as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office in January.
Mr. Healy, a former assistant chief litigation counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, joined Reed Smith’s Washington, D.C., office in May; Mr. Nagel, a leading data security expert and former assistant general counsel and chief security officer at Bank of America, joined the office in July.
Ms. Hansson is the leader of Reed Smith’s Export, Customs & Trade Team and focuses her practice on international trade and government contracts; and Mr. Jones is a trial lawyer focusing on complex class action litigation, including fair lending matters.
“In the area of financial services representation, this office now has all the bases well covered with a deep bench of this industry’s top attorneys,” said A. Scott Bolden, Reed Smith’s Washington, D.C., Managing Partner.
