Lisa Lanham

Nationally recognized by The Legal 500 for Financial Services Regulatory and Fintech, she is sought out by clients ranging from early-stage fintechs to Fortune 100 institutions for her ability to translate regulatory complexity into actionable strategies that balance compliance with business growth.

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

Areas of Focus

• AI Governance. Lisa advises lenders, servicers, fintechs and other financial services companies on governing their use of artificial intelligence. She works with clients to develop AI use policies and governance frameworks, to address fair lending and adverse action obligations for AI-driven underwriting, and to design workflows for enterprise AI tools with regulatory expectations in mind. Lisa brings a state regulatory perspective to this work. She tracks federal and state laws and regulations on AI use, as well as the Conference of State Bank Supervisors’ Artificial Intelligence Supervisory Framework, which state examiners may use to assess AI at the institutions they supervise.
• Consumer and Commercial Finance Regulation. Lisa has deep experience advising consumer and commercial finance companies (including mortgage lenders and servicers, auto finance companies, personal lenders, sales finance companies, marketplace/fintech lenders, hedge funds, private equity funds, family offices and Wall Street institutions) on licensing, compliance and operational requirements. She counsels on federal consumer protection laws (TILA/Reg Z, RESPA/Reg X, ECOA/Reg B, FDCPA and UDAAP) and their state law counterparts, as well as state retail installment sales acts, usury restrictions, fair lending obligations and servicing standards. On the commercial side, she regularly counsels clients structuring real estate financing, equipment leasing, factoring and supply chain finance products.
• Money Transmission and Payments. Lisa guides 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, and assists in structuring partnerships with banks, payment processors and marketplace platforms.
• Fintech, Emerging Platforms and Renewable Energy. Lisa advises fintechs and emerging platforms on embedded finance, co-branded card programs, point-of-sale financing, “buy now, pay later” structures and AI-driven underwriting models. She also counsels solar and renewable energy companies on financing-related licensing obligations and operational licensing requirements, including general contractor, electrical contractor and door-to-door sales licensing across multistate regulatory frameworks.
• 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 the regulatory licensing and compliance issues that impact deal structure and execution. She helps clients address state law lending and servicing restrictions in connection with securitizations, warehouse lines and secondary market transfers.
• M&A Advisory for Regulated Institutions. Lisa handles mergers, acquisitions and investments involving regulated institutions across the consumer finance, commercial finance, money transmission and payments sectors. She advises on licensing and regulatory approvals, change of control requirements, due diligence and integration planning to ensure that transactions proceed smoothly and without regulatory surprises.