The financial meltdown, which seemed to be abating— wishful thinking?—is back at the top of the news. Pundits worry that the overseas debt crisis may lead to a double-dip U.S. recession. And here at home, a congressional committee led by U.S. representative Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) was at press time hammering out details of a mammoth financial reform package. The hard-fought legislation would place limits on certain financial instruments, bolster consumer protections, and give additional regulatory powers to the Federal Reserve System. (For a profile of the New York Fed’s general counsel, see “The Fed’s Master Craftsman.” )
The regulatory climate may be shifting, but in-house counsel at the nation’s financial institutions have had to live with one constant for nearly three years: a litigation explosion that has all but overwhelmed their legal departments. Nearly every day, it seems, there is a new report that yet another bank is the target of a lawsuit or an investigation related to the financial meltdown of 2008. Or as one veteran securities lawyer puts it: “We used to have eight or ten years between scandals. Now it seems more like a month or two.”
