Our Banking and Commercial Finance Section includes three practice areas that collaborate with each other and the entire firm to provide a full range of legal services to our banking, financial institution and financial services clients.

• Governance and M&A – We advise and represent these clients in a variety of matters, including mergers, acquisitions and other business combination transactions; holding company reorganizations; branching and branch closings, purchases and sales; real estate development, acquisitions and sales; tax assessment; land use and zoning; loan and servicing portfolio sales; and capital formation through equity offerings, preferred stock and trust preferred securities. We provide advice on compliance with regulatory capital requirements, affiliate transactions rules, Reg. O, and third-party service contracting. We also advise boards of directors on fiduciary obligations, corporate governance, shareholder relations, anti-takeover measures, responding to takeover offers, board policies, insider trading and ethics, and other organizational matters such as IP and trademark protection.

• Regulatory – We focus on both operational and organizational compliance with the panoply of federal and state laws and regulations applicable to financial institutions and providers of financial services, including deposit insurance rules; Wisconsin Consumer Act; TILA, RESPA, ECOA, HMDA, Reg. E and other CFPB rules and regulations; brokered deposits; Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money-Laundering Act (BSA/AML) and broker-dealer networking arrangements. We have appeared on behalf of our clients before regulatory agencies including the Wisconsin DFI, the FDIC, the OCC and the Federal Reserve.

The team also maintains a strong focus on cyber-security including data breaches, data security policies, data breach response plans, cyber insurance, crisis management, risk management and litigation stemming from these issues.

• Commercial Finance – We have broad experience in structuring, negotiating and documenting a variety of financial transactions including commercial loan agreements, multi-bank (agented) loan facilities, inter-creditor agreements, participation agreements, asset-based loan agreements, interest rate swaps, collateral strategies and documents (UCC Article 9 perfection and priority, security agreements, control agreements and mortgages), real estate and construction loans, agricultural loans, letters of credit, tax increment financing, SBA loans, loan restructurings, workouts and forbearance agreements. We have significant experience in pursuing collateral recoveries, including foreclosures and other creditor rights and remedies.

Our Banking and Commercial Finance Section is cross-disciplinary and serves as a vehicle for clients to access the firm’s entire suite of service offerings of interest to financial institutions – tax, real estate, government law, government finance, labor and employment, litigation, insurance, executive compensation and employee benefits, among others – while maintaining the specialized expertise necessary to service the unique aspects of the financial industry.