Font Size: 
Patton Boggs Picks Up Mortgage Finance Group
The National Law Journal
August 05, 2009
Patton Boggs has brought on a six-lawyer mortgage finance team from Weiner Brodsky Sidman Kider, the firm announced Tuesday.
Partners Richard Andreano and John Socknat started work in the firm's Washington, D.C., office Monday. They will be joined by associates Reid Herlihy, Heather Hutchings and Haydn Richards on Thursday.
Michael Waldron, also a partner, will work out of Patton Boggs' Dallas office.
Andreano advises settlement service providers through issues concerning the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Truth in Lending Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Housing Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and the Gramm Leach Bliley Act.
Socknat's practice focuses on state and regulatory compliance matters related to the financial services industry. He represents mortgage companies, consumer finance companies, financial institutions, title companies, real estate brokers and secondary market investors on a variety of issues.
Socknat, 40, says the group decided to make the move primarily to take advantage of Patton Boggs' public policy capabilities.
"The financial services landscape is obviously quite different than it was a few years ago, and the laws regulating it are going to get more complex given the new intricacies they have to address. The public policy expertise at Patton Boggs was a big advantage in that regard," Socknat says.
Andreano, 50, agreed, adding, "With Congress discussing a proposal to have a federal consumer financial agency regulate that area of the market, there are going to be some highly debated turf battles among the existing agencies. Patton Boggs is well situated to track that debate and represent clients in seeing how that legislation is formed."
This article first appeared on The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
