R. Colgate Selden joined Blank Rome’s Washington, D.C. office as a partner in the firm’s financial institutions litigation and regulatory compliance (FILARC) practice group.
At Blank Rome, Selden will advise banks, non-depositories and other clients on the federal and state laws that regulate consumer and mortgage lending as well as ancillary service providers and vendors, such as financial technology companies, lead generators, document providers, due diligence firms, title companies, real estate brokers and appraisers. Selden will also conduct due diligence, provide regulatory review on deals and defend clients against enforcement actions and examination findings from various state and federal agencies and regulators.
Selden joined Blank Rome from Promontory MortgagePath, a company founded by a former comptroller of the currency that provides digital mortgage and fulfillment solutions, where he served as managing director and head of regulatory legal, compliance and risk.
Earlier in his career, Selden served as an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and was a member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s implementation team, where he helped establish the CFPB as required under the Dodd-Frank Act. He then served as a senior counsel in the CFPB’s office of regulations for several years, helping draft many key industry regulations, advising on policy matters and leading teams responding to inquiries from Congress and industry and consumer groups. He subsequently joined Alston & Bird, where his national practice focused on federal and state consumer laws and regulations applicable to the banking and lending industries.
“Colgate is a strong addition to our national FILARC practice group, and I am thrilled to welcome him to our firm,” Grant S. Palmer, Blank Rome’s managing partner and CEO, said. “His extensive in-house government experience as well as his private practice background helps Colgate understand and anticipate the needs of clients, which is critical in this nuanced regulatory and litigation landscape that our consumer finance clients are currently navigating.”
“Colgate’s background at the CFPB and his unique familiarity with the agency’s rules will greatly benefit our clients active in this highly regulated space,” Wayne Streibich, chair of Blank Rome’s FILARC practice group, said. “In the current economic climate, the mortgage industry is ripe for consolidation, which will attract scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators alike. Colgate will draw upon his extensive government and private practice experience to navigate the evolving landscape as well as manage any risk and compliance issues that arise for clients.”
“I am excited to join Blank Rome and once again work with my former colleagues Andy Arculin, whom I worked with at the CFPB, and Scott Samlin, whom I previously worked with in private practice, to continue growing the firm’s consumer finance servicing offerings in collaboration with Wayne and the strong national FILARC team that the firm has built,” Selden said. “I expect that we will see some of the CFPB’s new regulations challenged in court over the next several months, and Blank Rome’s strong bench of litigators and impressive FILARC practice are well positioned to handle these matters.”
