Ms Molly Swartz > Paul Hastings LLP > San Francisco, United States > Lawyer Profile

Paul Hastings LLP
55 SECOND STREET, 24TH FLOOR
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105
CALIFORNIA
United States
Molly Swartz photo

Work Department

Partner, Fintech and Payments

Position

Molly Swartz is a partner in the Global Fintech & Payments practice at Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s San Francisco office.

Recognized as a “Rising Star” by Law360 in 2023 and a “Next Generation Partner” by The Legal 500 in 2023, Ms. Swartz advises Fintech and financial services companies, internet marketplaces, and commercial and consumer lenders regarding a broad spectrum of product, regulatory, and transactional matters. As part of Paul Hastings’ Band 1-ranked Fintech and Payments practice, she is one of a few preeminent financial services attorneys in the US that companies turn to as they seek to commercialize their product offerings further.

Ms. Swartz has extensive experience with financial services and consumer protection laws, including the Truth-in-Lending Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, state money transmission and licensed lending laws, gift card laws, payment network rules such as the Nacha, Visa and Mastercard Rules, and other state and federal statutes related to money movement.

Ms. Swartz advises household name companies regarding a host of product and regulatory issues. From ideation and strategy through launch and beyond, Ms. Swartz assists in all aspects of product development. She frequently negotiates commercial agreements in the financial services space, including bank-Fintech partnership agreements and commercial agreements between Fintech companies. Ms. Swartz drafts user-facing documentation for financial services clients including foundational contracts between clients and their customers, and advises on design elements of the user experience. Beyond product development, Ms. Swartz supports clients through financing services licensing, and registration, and assists clients in responding to regulatory inquiries.

Ms. Swartz is one of the foremost experts in non-recourse liquidity and earned wage access (collectively, “NRL/EWA”). She was part of the original legal team that helped define the space, and has engaged with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and numerous state agencies on a variety of EWA/NRL issues. Ms. Swartz has helped numerous clients to develop no-fee, non-recourse forms of financing.

Education

University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D. 2011

Yale University, B.A. 2006

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Finance > Fintech

(Next Generation Partners)

Molly SwartzPaul Hastings LLP

Paul Hastings LLP is particularly adept at handling the myriad of regulatory, transactional, and corporate issues within the payments sector, as well as all stages of digital asset companies’ lifecycles, with extensive experience engaging with regulatory bodies such as the SEC. In Atlanta, Chris Daniel is an expert in payments and cryptocurrency, working on complex multijurisdictional mandates. Operating out of San Francisco, Eric Sibbitt is a key port of call for complex regulatory matters presented by financial technology and is a leader in the application of federal securities law, while Molly Swartz focuses on helping clients commercialize their product offerings, with particular expertise in earned wage access alternative financing and consumer protection laws. In New York, Dana Syracuse specializes in helping clients secure special-purpose bank and trust charters, while Josh Boehm advises financial institutions engaged in digital asset activities, focusing on obtaining regulatory approvals and guiding clients on deploying digital asset products in compliance with financial regulations.