EMERGING ISSUES TRACK: Labor Law Issues in the Mortgage Industry

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.

Partner, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP

Russell R. Bruch provides strategic advice to guide companies through complex US Department of Labor (DOL) audit investigations and defends corporate clients in high-stakes employment litigation, including collective and class actions and wage and hour matters. As co-leader of the firm’s aerospace and defense practice, Russell counsels government contractors on compliance with the Service Contract Act, prevailing wage, and other wage and hour requirements. He also provides advice to energy and construction industry clients navigating compliance requirements associated with the Inflation Reduction Act.

Partner, Blank Rome LLP

Casimir is a Chambers-ranked partner at Blank Rome LLP, where she serves as Co-Chair of the General Litigation practice group. She concentrates her practice on addressing the cascade of issues confronting government contractors today, including complex disputes, internal and government investigations, enforcement, litigation, suspension and debarment, and strategic counseling. Casimir's litigation experience is extensive, with notable successes in bid protests at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Government Accountability Office, and the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition, as well as in claims litigation before the Boards of Contract Appeal. She has a proven track record in significant government contracts litigation involving issues such as the statute of limitations, contractor key personnel matters, and the AbilityOne program. Additionally, Casimir has secured arbitration wins in prime-sub disputes and has facilitated efficient, negotiated dispute resolutions for her clients without resorting to litigation. She maintains a robust and active internal investigations practice, regularly handling ethics- and hotline-related investigations, employee misconduct investigations, alleged procurement fraud, and False Claims Act violations. Her experience includes leading complex, document-intensive internal investigations in response to Civil Investigative Demands and other crisis-driven inquiries. Additionally, Casimir provides regulatory counseling to ensure her clients comply with a broad array of FAR and DFARS requirements, including Department of Defense cybersecurity mandates.

Partner, Mitchell Sandler, PLLC

Ari Karen is an experienced litigator and speaker who has focused his practice in representing financial institutions in both government investigations and litigation before state and federal trial and appellate courts nationwide. Mr. Karen's practice is diverse, representing clients on matters concerning banking 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, among others.

Shareholder, Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.

Maria Kreiter is a shareholder in the Litigation practice of Godfrey and Kahn's Milwaukee office. Her practice focuses on complex business litigation and primarily claims involving trade secrets, non-competition agreements, banking and financial services disputes, FINRA arbitrations, business torts and real estate matters. Maria chairs the Litigation team's Non-Compete and Trade Secrets practice and has also served as chair of the American Bar Association's Business Torts and Unfair Competition Committee, one of the largest nationwide committees of the section of litigation. Maria is a frequent seminar speaker on current commercial litigation topics and was named the Wisconsin Law Journal's Woman Lawyer of the Year. Maria's trial experience includes court and jury trials in both state and federal court, as well as numerous injunction hearings and temporary restraining order hearings.