KEY UPDATES TRACK: Major Litigation Trends

Senior Managing Director and General Counsel, PennyMac Financial Services, Inc.

Mallory Garner is General Counsel at Pennymac, where her team provides legal support to their production and servicing divisions and manages litigation and regulatory affairs. Prior to joining Pennymac in 2011, Mallory specialized in default servicing, first as Deputy General Counsel at Countrywide and then as Associate General Counsel at Bank of America during the financial crisis. Prior to her in-house experience, she spent 10 years practicing business litigation.

Partner, Blank Rome LLP

Diana Eng is a partner in the Financial Institutions Litigation and Regulatory Compliance Group and has over 20 years of litigation experience. She represents mortgage loan servicers, lenders and debt collectors in all aspects of litigation and disputes, as well as appeals and contested bankruptcy matters, across multiple jurisdictions. Diana’s broad experience includes the FDCPA, FCRA, TILA, RESPA, Bankruptcy Code and Bankruptcy Rules (stay violations, allowance of claims, lien stripping), various New York statutes, such as the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act, the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law, the Real Property Tax Law, and the General Business Law, fraud, misrepresentation and other common law claims. She routinely counsels her clients on compliance with consumer statutes.

Partner, K&L Gates, LLP

Paul Hancock is recognized as a preeminent expert in civil rights matters, such as those arising under the federal Fair Housing Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Voting Rights Act and related state consumer protection laws prohibiting deceptive, unfair and abusive practices. Paul’s expertise in fair lending dates back to his service in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he led the Department’s fair-housing and fair-lending enforcement program, and extends up through the present, with his significant representations of clients seeking to comply with fair and responsible lending requirements, engaging in federal and state regulatory examinations, and defending acts and policies in enforcement or legal actions. His practice in recent years has focused particularly on the financial services industry, and has included representation of the industry’s largest and smaller members, as well as major trade associations, before all levels of the federal judiciary (including the Supreme Court) in complex litigation and before federal and state agencies.

Partner, Cooley LLP

Michelle is a highly respected financial services litigation and government enforcement lawyer. She is a trusted adviser to and first call for financial institutions in high-stakes litigation and enforcement matters, including government investigations, regulatory examinations, class action and complex litigation, and internal investigations. She is known for providing thoughtful and practical advice. Michelle’s clients appreciate her deep understanding of complex regulatory issues and ability to translate those concepts into operational terms, as well as her proactive approach to problem solving. A tireless advocate for her clients, Michelle is recognized in the industry for her experience and strategic thinking.

Partner, Co-Chair of the Banking and Consumer Financial Services practice, Goodwin

Allison Schoenthal is a partner in the firm’s Financial Industry group, Co-Chair of the Banking and Consumer Financial Services practice and the New York head of the Consumer Financial Services Litigation practice. She represents banks, trusts, lenders, government-sponsored enterprises, private equity firms, and loan servicers in consumer finance litigation and enforcement matters. Allison is known for being “pragmatic in problem-solving litigation” and having “a wealth of knowledge in the consumer finance space,” according to Chambers USA. With more than two decades of experience representing financial services clients, Allison was recognized by The Legal 500 US in 2023 as “one of the best litigators and thought leaders” in consumer finance and “on the regulatory regime where she is the absolute best.” Her experience includes individual and class action lawsuits, regulatory counseling and investigations, and defending against enforcement actions by state and federal regulators. She has handled more than 1,000 state and federal consumer finance matters, defending clients against claims under RESPA, TILA, FDCPA, TCPA, HOEPA, FCA, DPA, UDAP/UDAAP, among other statutes and laws. Allison and her team have obtained important rulings for financial institutions, and have a favorable track record representing clients in the lending industry.