John brings a business-focused perspective to investigations and regulatory compliance in the consumer financial services industry.
With more than 35 years of experience in consumer finance, John has advised auto finance companies, banks, private equity firms and other investors, and debt purchasers and collectors on regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters. His primary focus has been on non-mortgage consumer finance (especially auto finance) and small business financing matters.
John provides strategic advice regarding compliance with regulations, with significant focus on defending clients during government examinations, investigations and enforcement actions across multiple industries and subjects, such as vehicle finance, fair lending matters, and potential violations of credit reporting, debt collection, and electronic payment laws. John has routinely dealt with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and other state and federal regulatory and enforcement agencies. He has also represented financial institutions in state attorney general investigations.
John’s long history in consumer financial services dates back to the mid-1980s. A business owner who has also started multiple companies, John chose to pursue an M.B.A. after his first several years of legal practice to better serve clients. The program enhanced his ability to communicate with business leaders and led to nearly a decade of in-house legal work for financial services and software companies. In multiple instances, John joined a company that was experiencing significant difficulties and took a leading role in corporate restructuring to turn the organization around.
Clients value John’s extensive industry knowledge as well as his business mindset: he prioritizes learning clients’ businesses as quickly as possible, and he offers legal advice that’s firmly grounded in clients’ unique circumstances and operational challenges. His time in-house taught him how companies think and how in-house attorneys think—and the importance of ensuring that outside counsel provides the customized solutions clients are looking for.