Effective January 1, 2012, Bryan Cave LLP elected 14 new lawyers to partnership in the firm. Bryan Cave’s strength and depth in advising community banks is further enhanced by the election of Rob Klingler and Kim Civins to the partnership.

Rob Klingler is in our Atlanta office and is a partner in our Financial Institutions group. Rob regularly counsels financial institutions, with an emphasis on regulatory compliance, mergers and acquisitions, and securities law issues. Rob has advised community banks, as well as their officers and directors, concerning issues related to the current difficult financial and regulatory environment.  Rob is a frequent public speaker about federal and state banking regulations, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  Prior to joining the firm, he was an assistant coach of the University of Florida Speech and Debate Team. In addition, Rob is the founder and primary writer for BankBryanCave.com.

Kim Civins is also in our Atlanta office and is a partner in our Private Client service group.  In addition to advising individuals and families in the areas of estate planning and estate administration, Kim regularly advises trust and wealth management departments of banks of all sizes with regard to compliance with federal and state laws. Prior to attending law school, Kim worked for seven years for a national sports marketing company.

The international law firm Bryan Cave LLP and 113-year-old, Denver-based Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (HRO) will combine their practices effective Jan. 1, 2012, following a recent vote by the partners of both firms. Globally, the firm will continue to be known as Bryan Cave LLP. The combination will add exceptional legal capabilities in energy, natural resources and sports law to Bryan Cave’s international resources while expanding the firm’s worldwide presence into the Rocky Mountain region and adding significant new depth and experience in California.

The combined law firm will have more than 1,100 attorneys in over 30 law and professional service offices around the globe. It is expected to rank among the 25 largest in the world.  The combination with HRO will provide additional platforms for the continued expansion of Bryan Cave’s national community banking practice.

“Combining with HRO represents a unique opportunity for both firms to expand the resources we can offer to our clients while reinforcing a shared culture dedicated to superior client service,” said Don G. Lents, chairman of Bryan Cave. “Extending our geographic reach while expanding the range of our services in California are important steps in our firm’s long-term growth. We are very pleased to have as our colleagues lawyers coming from a firm with the stature of HRO, a name that has been synonymous with the highest-quality legal work in its region for more than a century.”

Based in Denver, HRO also serves clients from offices in Boulder, Colorado Springs, San Francisco and Los Angeles. For more than 100 years, the firm has had a tradition of developing lasting relationships with the entrepreneurial businesses which built the Rocky Mountain West, including numerous energy, mining, natural resource and telecommunications and technology clients. In more recent times, the firm has been a leader in providing counsel for complex business and securities transactions, emerging tech and environmental matters. In addition, HRO has developed a nationally recognized litigation group that has handled numerous multimillion dollar cases for some of the best-known companies in the United States. With the combination, the newly formed firm will be the only international firm with full-service capabilities on the ground in Colorado.

(more…)

Drawing from diverse legal disciplines, we have formed a client team with a focus on retail banking compliance and contractual matters.  Whatever day-to-day legal assistance you need in your retail banking area, we can provide prompt and accurate guidance.

We have many years of experience in all of the federal consumer banking regulation, and every day we work to stay current with the constantly changing regulatory environment.  We will help you avoid the regulatory minefields.  Our Retail Banking Team can assist your bank in all of the following areas:

• Deposit account agreement reviews;
• Deposit advertisement reviews;
• Overdraft policies and disclosures;
• Remote deposit capture agreements and policies;
• Automated clearing house agreements;
• Credit card, mortgage and other lending advertisement reviews;
• Credit card, mortgage and other lending disclosure and agreement reviews;
• Power of attorney interpretations;
• Trust documents and trustee power reviews;
• Individual Retirement Account transactions;
• Prepaid card programs;
• Check fraud assistance;
• Online business banking and cash management; and, of course,
• any issues arising under the Truth in Savings Act, Truth in Lending Act, Electronic Fund Transfers Act, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, or consumer privacy and data security laws and regulations.

(more…)

In light of the merger of Powell Goldstein LLP and Bryan Cave LLP, effective January 1, 2009, BankPogo.com has a new name,  a new domain, and a new look.  The site is now called, simply, Bank Bryan Cave, and can now be reached at www.bankbryancave.com.  We think the new look will make it even easier for visitors to find the information they are looking for, while also increasing the speed of the site.

Despite these changes, the most important things are not changing.  The site is still being written by the same attorneys; and we still plan to focus on providing up-to-date information, written in plain English, on the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Programs, and other items affecting community bankers.

As we complete the transition to Bank Bryan Cave, there will potentially be technical hiccups, and you may encounter a broken link, or other problem.  If you notice a problem, or simply have a request, please send us an email.  If you’ve previously bookmarked the site or subscribed to receive updates by e-mail (see the “Subscribe” button on the right hand side of the page), then you don’t need to anything, as they will continue to work.