A Deeper Dive — The Impact of the CFSA Case on the CFPB: Will the Supreme Court Un-Ring a Bell?
A lively panel including consumer financial services attorneys, former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) staff, and a consumer advocate delves into the Fifth Circuit decision in Community Financial Services Association of America vs. CFPB, which ruled the CFPB’s funding unconstitutional and vacated the Payday Lending Rule. With Jim Milano guiding the conversation, the panelists—Rachel Gittleman, Jenny Lee, Christopher Peterson, and Christopher Willis—provide keen insight into the case, extending the discussion of a CLE program at the ABA Business Law Section’s 2023 Hybrid Spring Meeting (now available to view for BLS members). They examine the CFPB’s funding structure, previous constitutional challenges, and the Second Circuit decision setting up a circuit split on this issue, all with an eye to how the Supreme Court might decide the case.
Read more about the video’s featured speakers below:
Rachel Gittleman (she/her) is the Financial Services Outreach Manager for the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), where she leads CFA’s advocacy and outreach on consumer banking and credit issues. She has successfully led legislative and regulatory campaigns and represents CFA on behalf of consumers before the CFPB, OCC, FDIC, Federal Reserve, Congress, and state regulators and legislatures. Prior to CFA, Rachel worked for the American Association for Justice, for campaigns for every level of government in New Jersey, and for Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman’s (NJ-12) office. Rachel earned her B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago.
Jenny Lee (Partner, Reed Smith LLP) represents the consumer financial services industry in complex regulatory matters. She advocates for clients in investigations or reviews commenced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the prudential bank regulators, the Federal Trade Commission, the state attorneys general, or state banking agencies. Jenny has led the defense of investigations across many product lines, such as demand deposit accounts, online banking, student loans, credit cards, mortgage, credit scores, debt collection, lead generation, payroll cards, retail-installment lending, online lending, rent-to-own solutions, identity protection, pension advances, auto finance, and others.
James “Jim” Milano (Member, McGlinchey Stafford, PLLC) helps financial institutions – mortgage companies, banking institutions, secondary market investors, consumer finance companies, and settlement service providers – comply with federal and state lending regulations. He guides clients in navigating digital marketing rules under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and advises lenders and servicers in implementing and complying with the Federal Housing Administration’s Home Equity Mortgage Conversion (HECM) program. Jim also assists home equity access startups with home equity and appreciation sharing products and sales leaseback programs: designing programs, obtaining regulatory approvals, and taking them through initial and subsequent capital raises.
Christopher Peterson is the John J. Flynn Endowed Professor of Law at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law. He previously served as a Special Advisor in the Office of the Director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and in the Office of Legal Policy for Personnel and Readiness in the United States Department of Defense. Professor Peterson has written dozens of scholarly articles and published three books on consumer finance. He is Of Counsel at the law firm of Gupta Wessler in Washington, D.C. and a Regent of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers.
Christopher Willis is a partner in Troutman Pepper’s Atlanta office, and co-leads the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Regulatory Practice. He assists clients with regulatory enforcement investigations and examinations and provides compliance advice on a range of consumer financial compliance issues.
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