Richard Gottlieb

Partner and Co-Chair of the Banking and Financial Services Practice

Richard E. Gottlieb has more than three decades of experience counseling and successfully defending the largest banks, consumer lenders and related companies in multiple enforcement actions, bet-the-company class actions, B2B litigation and mortgage-backed securities litigation. Richard also has extensive experience in regulatory and compliance matters, and he has represented many financial institutions and other well-known corporations in large-scale intellectual property disputes.

Richard maintains a diverse practice built on his extensive experience in:

• Class actions
• B2B litigation
• Mortgage-backed securities litigation
• Consumer protection law
  • Privacy and data security laws
  • Consumer loan terms
  • Conditions and disclosures

In addition to his longtime representation of many of the largest banks and consumer lenders in the United States, Richard maintains an active counseling practice on behalf of both financial services entities and other consumer-facing companies. One of the leading practitioners in consumer financial law, he advises clients on federal and state consumer financial protection laws and privacy and data security laws, and with respect to consumer terms, conditions and disclosures. Richard likewise provides ongoing advice to major consumer-facing companies based on the constantly changing federal and state laws with respect to their customer terms of use, required federal and state privacy disclosures and opt-out rights, advertisements containing finance terms, servicing and collection practices, web content and myriad other representations.

Richard has long represented some of the largest financial institutions in major enforcement matters brought by both federal and state agencies as well as by state attorneys general. For example, working on behalf of two of the largest banks during the subprime mortgage crisis, he led the team that negotiated with a multistate group of state attorneys general and federal banking regulators that resolved these disputes and resulted in the entry of nationwide consent orders. Richard has also defended multiple enforcement investigations and public enforcement actions brought by agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and various state banking regulators, such as the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI).

Richard is a thought leader and devoted teacher in the field of consumer finance. A member of the adjunct faculty at UCLA School of Law, he teaches consumer finance to aspiring practitioners. Likewise, Richard literally “wrote the book” on consumer finance. He is the founder, senior editor and co-author of the Consumer Financial Services Answer Book, the leading consumer credit desk reference published annually by the Practicing Law Institute. Richard is also one of just a dozen lawyers who have been nationally ranked by Chambers and Partners in the category of Financial Services Regulation-Consumer Finance every year since Chambers’ creation of the category.

Richard received his LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center; his J.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo; and his B.A., cum laude, from Vanderbilt University. He is an active member of the California, District of Columbia, Illinois and New York bars.

Georgetown University Law Center, LL.M.

State University of New York at Buffalo, J.D.

Vanderbilt University, B.A., cum laude