Lecturer Bios
Matthew Bisanz, Esq.
Matthew Bisanz is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Financial Services Regulatory & Enforcement practice. Matt advises financial institutions on core bank regulatory issues and adjacent subject matter domains. Matt is knowledgeable in all major aspects of the operations of an insured depository institution, its affiliates, and its partners—including chartering, acquisition, and permissibility analyses; ongoing risk management, governance, and compliance requirements; and insolvency and resolution issues. He also advises clients on Dodd-Frank Act compliance issues, including the Volcker Rule, capital and liquidity requirements, Reg YY enhanced prudential standards, and Title VII compliance.
Further, his practice extends to the other regulatory and risk management needs of the firm’s financial institution clients through counseling on regulatory inventories and change management, cybersecurity and data privacy concerns, and anti-money laundering compliance. Matt currently serves as the vice-chair of the American Bar Association’s subcommittee on banking legislation and regulation.
Prior to joining the Washington DC office of Mayer Brown in 2013, Matt worked at the SEC, CFTC, DOJ, and FDIC in various regulatory and investigative roles and at a Big Four accounting firm in New York. He also is a certified public accountant and teaches accounting at the University of Maryland Global Campus.
Stuart M. Litwin, Esq.
Stuart M. Litwin is a partner and co-head of the Global Finance Practice at Mayer Brown LLP. He also co-heads Mayer Brown’s Structured Finance and Capital Markets Practices.
Stuart is one of the leading and most experienced lawyers in the United States in the representation of originators, investment banks, marketplace platforms, warehouse lenders, underwriters, aggregators, ABCP conduit sponsors, hedge funds, commercial banks and investors (including mutual funds) in structuring, negotiating and documenting United States and international asset-backed and other securities transactions, structured financings and loan purchase transactions.
His experience has involved the securitization of virtually all asset types, and he is recognized as an expert in the securitization of retail and commercial auto loans and leases, consumer and small business marketplace loans (including payment processing loans), credit cards, FFELP and private student loans, dealer floorplan receivables, equipment leases and loans, cell phone device payment plan receivables, global trade finance assets, rental cars, commercial and residential mortgages, cross-border transactions, solar leases and power purchase agreements, synthetic risk transfers, money market fund investments and structured transactions in which banks and other clients seek advantageous treatment for accounting, regulatory capital or tax purposes.
Stuart also regularly represents several funds, reinsurance companies and other investors in their “alternative investments” (i.e., unusual assets or finance companies that are more difficult to fund in securitization or banking markets).
He has regularly been ranked as one of the best securitization lawyers in the United States by, among others, Chambers Global, IFLR, Best Lawyers in America, Who’s Who Legal and Euromoney.
Stuart is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Northwestern University Law School, where he teaches “The Law of Securitization.” He is currently Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Securitization and Structured Finance Committee. He was selected as the first-ever Chairman of the Structured Finance Association’s (the trade association for the securitization market) Legal Counsel Committee. He is a Fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers.
James Bergin. Esq.
James P. Bergin, former acting co-general counsel, deputy general counsel and chief of staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is a member of the firm’s Financial Services practice. He advises clients as they navigate the complex and ever-changing financial and banking landscape.
As a member of the leadership team at the New York Fed over many years, Jim interacted with a wide variety of domestic and foreign supervisory authorities and central banks.
As acting co-general counsel, Jim served as part of the New York Fed’s executive management and oversaw the activities of the Legal Group, including the legal, compliance, and bank applications functions. He advised senior management on a wide range of matters, including regulation and supervision of financial institutions; monetary policy and implementation; financial services and accounts matters; and corporate governance and risk management.
In his role as deputy general counsel, Jim was responsible for both markets and regulatory matters. He led the legal team that advised on matters relating to the New York Fed’s implementation of monetary policy, lending, foreign exchange, U.S. Treasury, reference rate, and other market-facing activity. Jim was also responsible for advising supervisors and others on matters relating to the New York Fed’s regulation and oversight of financial institutions, and oversaw the New York Fed’s bank applications function.
Jim joined the New York Fed in January 2005 as an attorney. He moved to its Supervision Group in 2011 to serve as head of the Legal Compliance & Risk Department. Jim became chief of staff to President William C. Dudley in 2012 and held the position until the end of 2015 when he became deputy general counsel.
Prior to joining the New York Fed, Jim was a lawyer in private practice at an international law firm in New York where he focused his practice on energy and infrastructure finance.
Kara Ramsey, Esq.
Kara Ramsey represents banks and nonbank financial services companies in a wide variety of
enforcement, regulatory, and compliance matters before federal and state agencies.
Kara also regularly assists clients with their compliance efforts in a wide range of areas,
including consumer financial protection, fair lending, digital banking, and Bank Secrecy Act and
anti-money laundering.
Prior to joining Arnold & Porter, Kara worked as a research assistant in the Consumer Finance
Section of the Federal Reserve Board. During law school, Kara interned in the Fraud Section of
the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division.
