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Mercedes Kelley Tunstall is widely recognized as a legal leader in consumer financial services regulation and compliance, fintech, cryptocurrency.
Mercedes regularly counsels banks, lenders, payments companies, digital asset companies and fintechs regarding federal banking regulators and compliance with laws and industry standards, often with a particular focus on deposits and payments. She also defends clients against enforcement actions taken by these regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As a former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawyer and bank in-house counsel, she also draws on her experience to work with companies in a wide variety of industries, including the burgeoning Web3 and metaverse spaces, on advertising law, privacy and cybersecurity issues, as well as to represent clients in FTC and National Advertising Division defense. Earlier in her career, she was in-house at the bank now known as Ally Financial, as well as Bank of America and HSBC.
Mercedes’s representative experience includes:
- Defended a client against a CFPB civil investigative demand that led to a consent order alleging violations of consumer financial protection regulations as well as unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices.
- Assisted a leading payments company in a complete overhaul of its advertising review practices, policies and procedures, and conducted an in-depth analysis of its advertising in preparation for regulatory examination.
- Worked with a fintech to develop a blockchain and distributed ledger technology-based network that facilitates improved documentation and communication for commercial financial services transactions.
Mercedes has been recognized by Chambers USA and by The Legal 500 US as a leader in consumer financial services regulation and compliance. In 2022, she was named among Citywealth's list of the top 20 "Crypto Power Women" in the U.S. In 2023, Mercedes was featured by IFLR1000 as a “leading practitioner” in the Financial Services and Regulatory space. Mercedes has also been named to Citywealth magazine’s 2024 “Top 50 Fintech/AI Lawyer” list.
Mercedes is a frequent contributor and Co-Editor of the Cabinet News and Views newsletter and was recently recognized as a top author and recipient of a 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards as selected by JD Supra.
*Certain representations occurred prior to Mercedes's association with Cadwalader.
