Goodwin Weber PLLC has extensive experience in federal banking and financial services law. We consult with and advise federally insured depository institution officers, directors, employees and agents in matters pertaining to supervisory bank examinations conducted by each of the federal bank regulatory agencies to assess compliance with all applicable federal banking and securities laws, rules and regulations governing the operation of such institutions.  We also accept engagements as consulting or testifying experts in banking or securities.  In the failed bank context, we also have successfully sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in U.S. District Court, on behalf of creditors of banks and the FDIC as Receiver.   

Similarly, we accept engagements to represent Audit or Supervisory Committees of banks, credit unions, investment advisors or broker dealers, or special litigation or investigation subcommittees.  We will defend officers and directors in regulatory inquiries from the examination and investigation stage, through trial and appeal, if required.  We also will conduct internal investigations at the direction of boards of directors as part of our services.   

Dr. David P. Weber, a principal of the firm, has extensive experience in state and national bank regulatory matters, as well as before the SEC.  He has been top-ranked as a Super Lawyer by Thompson Reuters for each of the past seven years, one of only three lawyers practicing in Maryland to have been top-ranked in banking and financial services law.  Dr. Weber previously served as the Chief Investigator of the SEC, and the Supervisory Counsel of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Enforcement Unit I, overseeing all bank enforcement and investigations concerning state chartered banks in the Kansas City, San Francisco, Dallas, Memphis, and Chicago Regions of the FDIC.  While at the FDIC, Weber helped investigate and initiate the first actions brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). 

Prior to his service at the FDIC, Dr. Weber served as the Special Counsel for Enforcement at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for more than a decade, directing investigations and enforcement actions involving national banks and their officers and directors.  Mr. Weber has personally handled some of the largest enforcement actions ever brought against state and national banks, and insurance firms, including those concerning consumer protection, alleged insider abuse and misconduct, the Bank Secrecy Act/AML concerns, and mergers, acquisitions, failures, and troubled institutions (those rated 3 or worse). 

Since entering private practice, Dr. Weber has responded to 15-day letters on behalf of clients, and represented whistleblowers, current and former bank officers, and creditors, before the OCC, SEC, NCUA, FDIC and Federal Reserve Board, and has successfully sued the FDIC in federal court as Receiver.  These matters have covered the range of banking and securities concerns, from safety and soundness, BSA/AML, insider abuse, consumer compliance, OFAC and sanctions violations, ALLL reserves and securities concerns.      

Dr. Weber has personally handled many regulatory enforcement actions including commitment letters, memorandums of understanding, supervisory agreements, cease and desist orders, prompt corrective action directives, safety and soundness orders, civil money penalties, orders of suspension, prohibition and removal orders, restitution orders, and orders placing institutions into receivership or conservatorship. He has worked extensively on Reports of Examination and supervisory concerns.  His matters have been litigated before agency Administrative Law Judges, U.S. Bankruptcy Courts (discharge of civil penalty orders), U.S. District Courts, and U.S. Courts of Appeal.  One matter has even been been argued before the United States Supreme Court (by an Assistant Solicitor General).

The firm has a nationwide practice, and represents current and former officers and directors before all of the federal banking agencies and the SEC, including the FDIC (state chartered non member banks and state chartered thrifts); OCC (national banks and federal thrifts); Federal Reserve Board (FRB) (state chartered member banks and bank and financial holding companies); CFPB (large bank consumer matters and non bank consumer matters); FinCEN (BSA); the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) (credit unions).

If you have a matter that requires an experienced bank regulatory attorney, please contact us.  Timely intervention with the appropriate federal regulator is key.  If timely intervention is too late, we can also help you with crafting the appropriate response – from soft touch to heavy hand.