Closing Super Session

Managing Director & General Counsel, CrossCheck Compliance LLC

Monika brings her passion for building relationships and connecting people to the company’s business development activities. Her unique experience as both in-house counsel and outside counsel working with public, private and start-up companies enables her to add valuable insight to CrossCheck’s engagements with mortgage companies, banks, credit unions and fintech companies. Her work frequently involves partnering directly with in-house counsel and outside counsel to provide strategic advice and help clients both mitigate risk and cost effectively scope engagements. As general counsel, Monika advises the firm on ethics, conflicts of interest, governance, internal controls, risk management issues, contracts, and vendor management and provides guidance on client matters. Monika brings over 30 years of experience in nationwide financial services companies. She has advised senior management and boards of directors on both crisis critical and fundamental legal issues, including regulatory compliance, internal audit, fair lending, litigation, due diligence and enforcement actions. Monika joined CrossCheck from Stonegate Mortgage Corporation where she was associate general counsel. Previously she has been general counsel for Cove Financial Group, Stearns Lending and New Century Mortgage Corporation. Her background includes all phases of mortgage lending including origination, compliance, fair lending, regulatory affairs, litigation, servicing, secondary market transactions and claims resolution; as well as general business operations for all types of distribution channels including wholesale, retail, correspondent, commercial, and servicing and loss mitigation. She has also been senior director of compliance and fair lending at Treliant Risk Advisors.

President, Firstline Compliance, LLC

Joshua Weinberg is a nationally recognized speaker, author, consultant, and leader in the mortgage industry. He is the President of Firstline Compliance (www.firstlinecompliance.com), a consulting company specializing in mortgage compliance and technology. He works closely with Federal and State Regulators and participates with many industry associations. He is currently Vice Chair of MBA's State Regulatory Compliance Committee, leads MBA’s LEP Working Group, and is the past Chair of MBA’s Regulatory Compliance Committee, a member of ABA’s Residential Markets Committee, and Past Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for MISMO.

Member, Dykema Gossett PLLC

Laura Baucus is the director of Dykema’s 100+ attorney automotive industry group, a past leader of the firm’s financial services litigation practice, and founded the firm’s supply chain group. She also is a member of Dykema’s Financial Services Industry Group (bankruptcy, regulatory, commercial lending and litigation). Baucus manages residential mortgage servicing litigation portfolios for banks and servicers. She counsels and represents financial institutions in litigation related to servicing, credit cards, escrow and insurance proceeds, note and collateral enforcement, and state and federal consumer protection statutes (i.e., FCRA, RESPA, TILA, TCPA). Baucus frequently presents on digital mortgage risks, Regulation X and other statutes, and most recently, on force majeure and post-CARES Act litigation risks.

Partner, Saul Ewing

Jason represents financial services companies located nationwide. Jason has obtained verdicts and judgments in jury trials, bench trials, and arbitration proceedings throughout the country, and regularly represents clients in class actions and complex litigation in federal and state courts. Jason represents clients in a wide range of matters, including consumer protection statutes, unfair trade practices, the False Claims Act, the Program Fraud and Civil Remedies Act, trade secrets disputes, business and contract disputes, and financial and consumer regulatory statutes such as RESPA, TILA, and TCPA.

Partner, Wright, Finlay & Zak, LLP

Michelle A. Mierzwa joined Wright, Finlay and Zak’s Compliance, Licensing and Regulatory Division in 2015, providing loan originators, lenders, servicers, trustees and others in the mortgage industry with state and federal compliance and regulatory counsel. Since 1998, her accomplishments include the management and resolution of litigated matters through jury and bench trials and appellate practice, creating the legal department for one of the largest non-judicial foreclosure trustees in the Western United States, the coordination of compliance audits, and managing the California branch of a national law firm. Ms. Mierzwa has worked with lenders and mortgage servicers of all sizes to ensure their compliance with state and federal laws, including, but not limited to, California Consumer Privacy Act, California and Nevada Homeowner Bill of Rights, state and federal FDCPA, RESPA, TILA, SCRA, Washington Foreclosure Fairness Act, Nevada, Oregon and Washington Foreclosure Mediation Programs, Dodd-Frank Act and CFPB Rules, state licensing laws, and governmental and regulatory agency investigations. Ms. Mierzwa is serving her third three-year term on the Board of Directors of the United Trustees Association (UTA). She is the Chair of the UTA Legislative Committee and a member of the Legislative Committee for California Mortgage Bankers Association. She has monitored, proposed and analyzed new legislation affecting the industry, has participated on speaking panels for national lending industry conferences, and has provided education and clarification to the industry regarding the Dodd-Frank Act and the Servicing Rules of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Prior to her in-house and management experience, Ms. Mierzwa was a litigation and appellate attorney at a default services firm for ten years and worked in loan originations for three years. Ms. Mierzwa is licensed to practice in California and Washington.

Partner, Holland & Knight LLP

Joshua Prever is a litigation and regulatory attorney in Holland and Knight's Fort Lauderdale office. He is creative and solutions oriented, and his financial services clients rely on him to solve complicated problems. Having more than 15 years of experience in the consumer lending and residential mortgage space, Mr. Prever serves as trusted counsel for large and small financial institutions, along with emerging financial technology (FinTech) companies that are overseen by a mixture of federal and state regulators. A litigator first and foremost, Mr. Prever leverages a nationwide team to defend his financial services clients in class actions, mass actions and single plaintiff cases throughout the country. In his role as trusted counsel, he not only defends his clients in court, he also guides them through federal and state regulatory inquiries. Having worked as both outside and in-house counsel, Mr. Prever's advice is grounded on real-world operational issues, needs and business goals these institutions must address when adapting to new legal requirements.

Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Vaishali Rao focuses her practice in two primary areas: first, defending companies in regulatory investigations and litigation brought by governmental bodies; second, compliance counseling related to statutes intended to protect consumers. She has advised a range of financial institutions—small and large banks, online lenders, and fintech businesses—on these issues and also maintains strong relationships with Illinois banking regulators. Vaishali has defended companies facing inquiries, requests for information, subpoenas, civil investigative demands, supervisory examinations, or lawsuits brought by government entities like state attorneys general, state and municipal regulators, state banking examiners, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the U.S. Department of Justice. She has extensive experience resolving complex unfair and deceptive trade practice cases either through litigation or negotiated settlements. She is also skilled in the drafting and implementation of agreements or court orders requiring substantial business reform. Vaishali has helped companies identify and manage risk by counseling them through issues intersecting with consumer protection, including the: Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Truth in Lending Act (TILA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), state telemarketing laws, federal and state privacy requirements—including Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)—data breach management, student loan licensing, and other state law requirements.

Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke

Joseph “Joe” Reilly advises a wide variety of financial services companies as they navigate increasingly complex regulatory and compliance requirements. He regularly represents lenders, fintech startups, neobanks, and mortgage servicers in enforcement matters, including informal investigations and examinations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC, SEC, numerous state agencies, and the mortgage government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae. His compliance counseling work covers the entire range of consumer and business lending laws and rules under TILA/Reg. Z, ECOA/Reg. B, UDAAP, EFTA/Reg. E, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, debt-collection laws, GLBA privacy provisions, state licensing regimes, and others. Joe also advises financial services providers on all aspects of BSA/AML compliance and has litigated SAR confidentiality and immunity provisions. Joe has extensive experience advising on mortgage law matters, including RESPA’s anti-kickback provisions, and fair lending, servicing, and mortgage insurance issues. He is the principal author of CFPB Mortgage Origination Rules Deskbook published by the American Bankers Association. The 625-page treatise, now in its 2nd edition, is the definitive guide to the CFPB’s mortgage origination rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act. For banks and bank-affiliated clients, Joe advises on bank powers, federal preemption, and a variety of Bank Holding Company Act matters. He also advises credit unions and Farm Credit lenders on compliance issues across the range of their lending and investing activities.