It is with great pleasure that I share the good news that Law360 has named Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services Group a Practice Group of the Year.
Law360—which covers legal news and policy developments across the industry and has a circulation of more than a million—selected Practice Groups of the Year to highlight the top U.S. practices in 35 areas of legal focus. Our Consumer Financial Services practice is one of only five nationwide named in the “banking” category—and one of just two with substantial practices in consumer financial services. The Law360 recognition is in addition to Ballard Spahr’s ranking as one of only four firms in the country with consumer financial services regulatory practices listed in the highest tier by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
Calling our consumer finance practice “the one to watch in 2018,” Law360 singled out our work in preserving the use of arbitration by consumer financial services companies and challenging the CFPB’s efforts to regulate small-dollar lenders. Law360 said that our arbitration work “ultimately helped bring about President Donald Trump’s November decision to sign a resolution eliminating [the CFPB] rule that would have prevented companies from banning class actions in consumer arbitration clauses.” As we reported, the CFPB recently announced that it intends to engage in a rulemaking process to reconsider its final small-dollar loan rule. We expect that in revisiting the rule, the CFPB will consider the arguments we made that were critical of the CFPB’s rule in the comment letters we submitted before the rule was finalized and that Law360 highlighted in its article.
Law360 also recognized the significance of Ballard Spahr’s merger with the Minneapolis-based firm Lindquist & Vennum, which brought the total number of lawyers in our Consumer Financial Services Group to more than 125 nationwide.
In sharing this honor, we also want our clients to know that we are grateful for the opportunities they have given us to work with them and acknowledge their role in helping us achieve this award. This top national ranking reflects our ongoing commitment to excellent legal work and client service.
You can read Law360’s article here.