EMERGING ISSUES TRACK: Labor Law – Best Practices for Compensation and Recruiting in a Changing Landscape

Laura LaRaia

Chief Legal Officer and Enterprise Risk Officer, MLD Mortgage, Inc. d/b/a The Money Store

Corporate legal counsel, with over 25 years legal, compliance, and risk management experience in financial services. Exceptional expertise in financial services industry successfully handling multiple responsibilities, managing litigation, overseeing outside counsel with total attention to detail and follow-through, in fast paced rapidly evolving environments. Skilled at negotiating agreements, advising on legal aspects of financial laws and regulations such as TILA, including QM/ATR, LO comp, and TRID, RESPA, ECOA, FCRA, HMDA, fair lending, licensing, compliance auditing, marketing, advertising managing regulatory and consumer complaints, federal, state, and investor exam management, due diligence, quality control/quality assurance, compliance risk assessments, enterprise risk management.

Meredith Dante

Partner, Ballard Spahr LLP

Meredith S. Dante is a Partner in Ballard Spahr’s Litigation Department and is a member of the Firm’s Labor and Employment Group. Meredith represents employers in a broad range of labor and employment disputes across industries, including financial services. She partners with clients to proactively identify issues and devise legal solutions that are specifically tailored to the client's workforce and business needs. She regularly advises clients in matters involving social media policies, compliance programs, discrimination, whistleblower complaints and retaliation, wage and hour issues (including LO comp agreements), reductions in force, restrictive covenants, the Family and Medical Leave Act and other leave laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act and other accessibility issues.

Ari Karen, Esq.

Partner, Mitchell Sandler, PLLC

Ari represents businesses and financial institutions in litigation matters, government investigations, and advises clients on regulatory compliance matters. He is widely praised for his business-friendly style of representation that combines aggressive advocacy with a sensitivity to practical business considerations. Ari’s approach looks at the impacts of legal strategy in real life scenarios, allowing his clients to remain both compliant and competitive. His practice is diverse, covering subject matters including banking regulations, consumer protection regulations, Dodd-Frank financial reform laws, contractual disputes, employment and labor statutes, wage-hour class actions, employment discrimination and fair lending matters, whistleblower complaints, and non-competition claims. This combination of expertise in employment, litigation, and regulatory matters allows him to develop and implement multifaceted strategies drawing from diverse experiences that provide his clients an edge in litigation and competitive environments.

Sheila M. Strong, CMCP

Partner, Strong Estrada PLLC

Sheila M. Strong is Partner and Co-Founder of Strong Estrada, PLLC. With over 25 years of experience in the real estate and mortgage industry, Sheila Strong has assisted depository and non-depository identify mechanisms to utilize mortgage compliance as a competitive advance and navigate the ever-changing regulatory environment. Ms. Strong has developed Compliance Management Systems designed to implement, monitor, improve, and revise corporate policies and procedures to serve the mortgage needs of consumers in a manner that is consistent with ethical lending and servicing practices. As a former mortgage loan originator and a former SVP of Compliance and General Counsel, Ms. Strong brings real-world experiences in implementing compliance management strategies.