Lord, Bissell & Brook’s Washington Office serves corporate clients in businesses including technology, biotechnology and financial services. Our attorneys have represented financial service companies before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, Federal Trade Commission, State and Federal financial services regulatory agencies and the U.S. Congress.
Our attorneys bring a wealth of knowledge from their varied backgrounds which include investment banking, accounting and senior attorney positions at the federal banking regulatory agencies. The Washington Office’s concentration in financial services is complemented by the extensive financial background of its attorneys, including experience as senior Federal financial services agency regulators. This experience is a valuable resource to clients seeking representation before the SEC, NASD and the Public Accounting Oversight Board.
Our Washington office is well positioned with extensive legal skills in specific transactional areas and familiarity with the financial services industry, thereby providing a fully integrated understanding of the specific needs of our clients. Our attorneys have extensive experience in bank regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity securities offerings and Sarbanes Oxley and 34 Act compliance. The Washington office attorneys include the nation’s leading experts in thrift demutualizations (conversion and mutual holding company formation) and, together with our Chicago office, constitute a unique legal resource for insurance demutualization.
Our banking attorneys have been involved in almost every thrift demutualization with assets over $1 billion. They represent clients before the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") and the Office of Thrift Supervision ("OTS") concerning regulatory and holding company matters and act as team leaders in guiding and organizing groups in forming de novo bank charters. They appear regularly before the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC"), the OTS, and FDIC on a wide range of compliance matters. They have completed numerous precedent setting transactions and have been involved in the past decade in the passage of major financial legislation including Gramm-Leach, Sarbanes-Oxley and FIRREA.
Our attorneys have provided advice in structuring comprehensive executive stock and cash compensation plans for clients transitioning to a public company. In addition, they have advised compensation committees and boards regarding their ongoing fiduciary duties and methods of restructuring compensation to facilitate mergers and acquisitions.
From our downtown location one block from the White House, Treasury Department, OTS and the FDIC, we can provide access to key Washington decision-making at the Federal regulatory agencies and on Capitol Hill.