Financial Services

Facing rapid change—driven by technology, regulation and fluctuating market conditions—financial services companies rely on law firms with dedicated industry teams that can provide both substantive experience and deep knowledge about their businesses. We provide a broad range of transactional and regulatory services, backed by strong substantive teams in related areas such as bankruptcy, real estate, environment, tax, corporate finance, M&A, intellectual property, advertising, employment and litigation, with a particular focus on defending consumer class actions.

Our clients include issuers, payment networks, national, international and community banks, a variety of other financial services providers, and many potential networks.

Our primary focus areas include:

Payment systems
Our payments lawyers assist clients with the ever-changing dynamics of the payments industry, leveraging our collective decades of industry experience and our presence on both coasts and in China. From assisting with credit card, payment system and loyalty program transactions to counseling on cutting-edge emerging payments issues to providing advice related to compliance with and enforcement of ever-evolving financial services regulation, we have extensive experience assisting clients in virtually all facets of the retail financial services world.

Commercial lending
We handle large volumes of loan documentation and represent financial institutions and commercial lenders in real estate transactions and with cash flow/asset-based and securitized loans.

Mergers, acquisitions and corporate transactions
Our attorneys represent public and private financial institutions with strategies for mergers, the sale of assets and assumption of liabilities, and the sale of branches. We assist with the organization of state and national banks, holding companies, service corporations and foreign subsidiaries. We help clients comply with federal and state securities laws and bring years of experience to negotiations with on behalf of our clients.

Credit recovery, bankruptcies and workouts
We represent banks, asset-based lenders and other credit providers in collecting on loans, developing collection practice systems and ensuring regulatory compliance. Our bankruptcy and workout team handles loan restructurings and workouts both in and outside of bankruptcy.

Litigation
DWT’s financial services litigation team represents financial services institutions and their executives in a wide range of complex civil and criminal litigation matters, as well as in arbitrations and other alternative dispute resolution proceedings throughout the United States. In addition, we assist many of the nation’s leading financial services companies, including banks, mortgage lenders and servicers, securities firms, credit card companies, and insurers, as well as corporate directors and officers, in all phases of litigation from early claims assessment through appeals. We also represent numerous financial services institutions and their executives in connection with matters involving fair lending, fraud, unfair and deceptive acts, unfair competition and deceptive acts and practices, breach of fiduciary duties, and other alleged violations of laws governing their business activities. DWT lawyers have particular experience in consumer class action defense and have successfully defended scores of class actions for financial services institutions and other major companies, attaining in the overwhelming majority of cases early resolutions including pre-certification dismissals, negotiated settlements or voluntary dismissals.

Public finance
We represent banks as issuers of letters of credit supporting municipal bond transactions, as placement agents for bonds and other securities and as trustees for purchasers of municipal bonds and other securities.

Equipment finance and capital leasing
We serve as counsel for capital leasing and for equipment-secured lending, serving lessees and lessors throughout the United States.