We identify and anticipate market trends that could affect the FinTech industry and FinTech-related transactions. Our national consumer financial services industry team is composed of business, regulatory, and litigation attorneys handling regulatory compliance, financial services and commercial litigation, bankruptcy, and white collar criminal defense and government investigations for the country’s largest financial institutions, lenders, and servicers.

Our regulatory team provides a wealth of experience in banking and consumer financial services, featuring former senior attorneys from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), and other leading regulators including the New York Department of Financial Services. Our regulatory team also has significant experience defending and resolving enforcement actions filed by state and federal regulators; assisting clients with new product design and rollout, formation of strategic bank partnerships, and licensing and registration issues; pursuing no-action requests on behalf of clients; assisting clients in preparing comments to proposed rules; and responding to consumer complaints and other inquiries from consumers.

This group also counsels clients in regard to inquiries, investigations, and audits by government agencies; conducts internal investigations; and performs gap analyses to strategically assist in the process.

We leverage our extensive regulatory and transactional experience to assist clients in launching new, innovative lending and payment products, including the use of technology or strategic partnerships to navigate regulatory challenges. We assist clients in structuring and developing all aspects of their FinTech business—from licensing and chartering, to formation of strategic partnerships, designing disclosures, compliance polices and procedures, and navigating examinations. Select engagments include:

• Assist banks and non-bank lending companies in the development of FinTech partnership programs, including true lender analysis and BAAS structure, designing participation structures, and drafting and negotiating program agreements.
• Assess fair lending risk for new innovative products and alternative data underwriting.
• Advise companies adopting or developing Buy Now Pay Later and other retail credit solutions.
• Assist industry-leading loan origination platforms, lead generators, and marketplaces on compliance, risk management, and dispute resolution. 
• Design terms and disclosures for mortgage, credit card, and installment loan products and features.
• Assist companies in designing innovative payment solutions around money service business regulations and exceptions.

We work with clients to structure FinTech-related transactions—whether it be securing financing through a bank, identifying the most effective tax structure, or raising capital through a private equity fund, we have the know-how to address your specific needs. Our skilled transactional attorneys handle every aspect of the deal, including performing due diligence, negotiating and documenting terms, and providing advice on the tax, regulatory, and executive compensation issues arising from such strategic transactions.

Our regulatory team also regularly conducts regulatory due diligence in connection with M&A transactions or capital investments. Select engagements include:

• Due diligence on FinTech startup companies seeking capital investment on behalf of a nonprofit financial services consultancy’s accelerator program. 

• Due diligence on behalf of bidders in connection with the acquisition of an industry-leading lead generation, regulation technology, payments and mortgage service providers.

We regularly represent financial services and FinTech companies in both equity and debt financings. Our structured finance attorneys negotiate, structure, and document complex financing transactions to tailor solutions to a client’s specific needs. From straightforward, small-ticket leases to highly sophisticated and complex capital markets transactions, we understand how to effectively and efficiently address all stakeholders’ interests.

Our depth of knowledge includes traditional securitizations of equipment leases, auto receivables, and aircraft loans, as well as more involved transactions such as synthetic and cash collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”), collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”), structured investment vehicles (“SIVs”), and alternative hedge funds investing in complex financial instruments.

We are dedicated to helping clients develop, protect, strategically manage, and maximize the value of their intellectual assets. We have decades of experience delivering high-level legal services to clients in a wide range of industries across all aspects of intellectual property law, including:

• Patent litigation
• Patent prosecution and counseling
• Trademark prosecution and enforcement
• IP licensing and transactions
• IP due diligence for M&A
• Copyright registrations and infringement

Further, we have successfully represented clients before state and federal courts across the country, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (“PTAB”), the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (“TTAB”), Inter Partes Review (“IPR”), and on appeal from these tribunals to the appellate courts.

Blank Rome’s national team of experienced privacy, security & data protection attorneys have spent decades at the cutting edge of technology helping clients navigate the patchwork of data privacy laws and myriad of issues posed by digital technologies, IT, outsourcing, marketing, and data rights transactions in a variety of sectors, from healthcare, pharmaceutical, and medical devices to e-commerce, consumer goods, financial services, and FinTech.

Members of our privacy, security & data protection team are certified as information privacy professionals in the United States and Europe by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (“IAPP”).

Digital Assets

Digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, exist exclusively in electronic form and use a decentralized, digital ledger network (i.e., blockchain) to record transactions and exchanges. Our knowledgeable attorneys are helping clients with the following emergent issues:

• Fund formation and structuring for investment in digital asset businesses
• Regulatory and risk management issues surrounding initial coin offerings
• Regulatory compliance for money services businesses including licensing
• Investigations and enforcement matters related to registration, licensing, and alleged fraud
• Proactive insurance coverage advice and counseling; insurance claims recovery
• Cybersecurity, identity, and privacy issues relating to digital assets

Blockchain Technology

Blockchain is a decentralized, distributed ledger technology that facilitates a system of recording transactional information and tracking assets across a network of computer systems. Our experienced blockchain attorneys have a deep understanding of this technology and are advising clients on:

• Distributed ledger transactions across financial services, maritime, healthcare, energy, real estate, professional services, and life sciences industries
• Artificial intelligence technologies
• Fund formation and structuring for investment in blockchain-related businesses
• Proactive insurance coverage advice and counseling; insurance claims recovery
• Cybersecurity, identity, and privacy issues relating to blockchain applications

Blank Rome’s Americans with Disabilities (“ADA”) Title III Litigation & Compliance Team is a national team of attorneys assisting our clients achieve and maintain compliance with ADA Title III, as well as applicable state and local laws that mirror and expand upon its protections. As one of the deepest and most experienced teams in the country, we have defended and resolved hundreds of ADA Title III claims and lawsuits, including alleged class actions, for clients in a wide variety of industries, including technology, digital media, e-commerce, FinTech, hospitality, restaurant, higher education, banking, and retail (both luxury and other consumer goods).

We have offices and teams of attorneys handling these cases in the four states in which the most ADA litigation is being brought—California, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania—and we regularly advise clients and defend claims and lawsuits throughout the rest of the United States.