Lisa M. Lanham ^‡

Lisa M. Lanham counsels clients across the financial services industry on a wide spectrum of federal and state regulatory, licensing, compliance, and transactional matters. She is nationally recognized by the Legal 500 for Financial Services Regulatory and Fintech for her ability to guide companies through highly complex regulatory regimes with practical, plain-language advice, enabling clients to scale efficiently, expand into new markets, and execute strategic transactions with confidence.

Lisa’s practice spans both the primary and secondary markets, where she is positioned to assist clients navigating licensing, compliance, and capital markets transactions across industries. She brings a client-centered, business-minded approach to matters ranging from regulatory structuring to mergers and acquisitions of regulated institutions.

Her areas of focus include:

• Consumer Finance Regulation: Lisa has deep experience advising consumer finance companies—including mortgage lenders and servicers, auto finance companies, personal lenders, sales finance companies, and marketplace/fintech lenders—on licensing, compliance, and operational requirements. She counsels on federal consumer protection laws (TILA/Reg Z, RESPA/Reg X, ECOA/Reg B, FDCPA, UDAAP, and others) and their state law counterparts, as well as state retail installment sales acts, usury restrictions, fair lending obligations, disclosures, and servicing standards. Lisa regularly represents these companies in licensing applications, examinations, change of control approvals, enforcement matters, and ongoing compliance. She is also highly skilled in advising on innovative product structures such as point-of-sale financing, “buy now, pay later,” and co-branded card programs.
• Commercial Finance Regulation: Lisa advises hedge funds, private equity funds, family offices, and Wall Street institutions on state and federal licensing and compliance requirements applicable to commercial lending, loan brokering, and investment structures. This includes mortgage banker, commercial lender, and loan broker licenses, as well as real estate broker licensing requirements where applicable. She regularly counsels clients structuring real estate financing, equipment leasing, factoring, and supply chain finance products. Lisa’s deep understanding of both institutional lending and state-level licensing regimes allows her to help clients navigate risks efficiently and pursue new lines of business with clarity.
• Money Transmission Regulation: Lisa is experienced in guiding fintechs, payment companies, digital wallet providers, virtual currency businesses, and international remittance operators through money transmitter licensing, compliance, and examination matters. She counsels on state licensing requirements, exemptions, and reporting obligations. She also assists in structuring partnerships with banks, payment processors, and marketplace platforms, pursuing compliance with both state and federal requirements while maintaining business agility.
• Structured Finance and Capital Markets: Lisa represents clients in structured finance transactions, including securitizations and other structured finance vehicles, as well as capital markets transactions, with a focus on regulatory licensing and compliance issues that impact the structure and execution of these deals. She helps clients address state law lending and servicing restrictions in connection with securitizations, warehouse lines, and secondary market transfers.
• Mergers and Acquisitions: Lisa handles mergers, acquisitions, and investments involving regulated institutions across all of the foregoing sectors—consumer finance, commercial finance, money transmission, and payments. She advises on licensing and regulatory approvals, change of control requirements, due diligence, and integration planning, with the goal of ensuring that transactions proceed smoothly and without regulatory surprises.
• Solar and Renewable Energy Companies: Lisa counsels solar energy companies on both their financing-related licensing obligations (consumer lending, retail installment contracts, and sales finance laws) and their operational licensing obligations, including general contractor, electrical contractor, solar contractor, and door-to-door sales licensing requirements. She provides comprehensive guidance to support the growth of solar and renewable businesses navigating multi-state regulatory frameworks.
• Licensing and NMLS Experience: Leveraging experience from earlier on in her career, where she assisted companies with submitting applications, responding to license items, and securing approvals of initial applications and renewal applications, Lisa has deep, practical knowledge of the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) and state licensing platforms. She has developed processes to streamline multi-state licensing efforts, reduce client burdens, and maintain compliance across diverse lines of business. Clients rely on her to simplify licensing obligations, integrate new products or services, and expand into new industries with confidence.