With state and federal regulators continuing to scrutinize financial institutions’ consumer-facing operations, Davis Wright Tremaine has added two new partners in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office who bring significant experience with investigations and supervisory, enforcement, and litigation matters, particularly those involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Jonathan B. Engel has more than a decade of experience with large, complex, precedent-setting supervisory, enforcement, and litigation proceedings involving consumer financial protection laws at both the federal and state level. He was most recently an enforcement attorney at the CFPB. He previously served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.
Robin Nunn brings to the firm five years of experience helping C-suite executives of major financial institutions navigate federal investigations and examinations as well as supervisory and enforcement actions brought by prudential regulators. She has extensive experience guiding clients through supervisory examinations, agency enforcement investigations, trial court litigation, and compliance with consumer protection laws. She was most recently vice president/senior associate general counsel at Capital One and earlier was counsel at American Express. Ms. Nunn spent six years in private practice at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where she represented financial institutions and non-financial institutions.
“The skills these two lawyers bring to our clients powerfully complement one another,” said Claude Goetz, chair of the Financial Services practice at Davis Wright Tremaine. “Together, Jonathan and Robin provide 360-degree insight into how regulators supervise, investigate, and enforce and litigate against financial institutions, how major financial institutions address these matters, and how outside counsel can best assist in delivering a successful outcome.”
Davis Wright Tremaine is known for its strong regulatory and transactional work in the consumer financial services space, as well as its leading position in emerging and mobile payments and FinTech. The team has seen significant growth in the investigations, supervisory, enforcement, and litigation area as well.
“Focusing on practice areas in which we excel, and that are critical to our clients, is key to our continued success,” said Jeff Gray, managing partner of Davis Wright Tremaine. “The addition of excellent lawyers like Jonathan and Robin is consistent with our approach to build on our core strengths as a firm.”
Mr. Engel played a central role in a number of CFPB supervisory and enforcement activities. These include a widely publicized, ongoing lawsuit against several major payment processors, who the agency alleged violated the law by assisting operators of an abusive robocall debt collection scheme. He also helped win a $530 million CFPB suit against Corinthian Colleges, a now-defunct, for-profit company that the Bureau alleged targeted students with a predatory lending campaign.
At the AG’s office in Massachusetts—known as a consumer protection trendsetter, particularly in the area of data privacy—Mr. Engel was part of the False Claims Enforcement Unit. His work included investigation of a massive data security breach, as well as investigations, supervision, enforcement, and litigation of alleged predatory lending, unfair foreclosure, and illegal debt collection.
As a Capital One vice president, Ms. Nunn oversaw a team of attorneys on matters covering the gamut of consumer and financial products and services, including credit card, retail banking, commercial banking, broker/dealer, small business lending, mortgage, virtual currencies and online banking, payment networks, FinTech, and automobile. At American Express, she handled matters involving an array of issues under federal and state banking laws, as well as issues within the jurisdiction of the CFPB and other federal and state regulators. Ms. Nunn also provided executives with advice on federal and state consumer financial laws and regulations, and has worked with managers and staff at numerous federal and state agencies, including the CFPB, Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Trade Commission, and Internal Revenue Service.
Her experience has included advising on investigations and enforcement actions involving the CFPB, DOJ, OCC, and FRB as well significant experience handling complex civil litigation brought by private plaintiffs.
Mr. Engel earned his B.A. at Colby College and his J.D. at Boston University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in Massachusetts.
Ms. Nunn earned her B.A. at Dartmouth College and her J.D. at The University of Chicago Law School, where she served on The University of Chicago Law Review and was president of The University of Chicago Black Law Students Association. After law school, she clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She currently chairs the American Bar Association’s Banking Law Committee Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion. She is admitted to practice in New York.
Source: www.dwt.com
