The following is an excerpt from Practice Perspectives: Vault's Guide to Legal Practice Areas.
Erin Zacuto Cass is of counsel in Paul Hastings’ fintech and investigations and white collar defense practices. She represents financial services companies and individuals in confidential federal and state investigations, including investigations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the FTC, state attorneys general, and state banking agencies. She counsels finance companies and individuals in identifying risks and adhering to regulatory requirements with respect to consumer protection laws.
Erin previously served as a law clerk in the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland and the Circuit Court for Montgomery County in Maryland. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a paralegal specialist in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Describe your practice area and what it entails.
I work with clients facing government investigations or regulatory inquiries, especially clients that provide consumer-facing financial products or services and those in the fintech space. The financial services space is highly dynamic with respect to the products that are offered and the rules that apply. I help our clients navigate complex and government investigations before state and federal regulators such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the FTC, and state attorneys general on everything from counseling clients about regulatory compliance with consumer finance laws to responding to governmental subpoenas and negotiating the resolution of an investigation or litigation.
What types of clients do you represent?
Most of my clients are fintechs or companies that have consumer-facing products and services, which include financial services companies and individual executives in the fintech industry. The clients I have represented are diverse within the industry, including large and rapidly scaling payments companies, buy-now pay-later providers, earned wage access providers, prepaid card companies, mortgage lenders, student loan servicers, a national tax preparer, and individual directors and officers of financial institutions.
What types of cases/deals do you work on?
Most of my matters start when a company has received an investigative subpoena from a regulator. Often, the regulator’s inquiries relate to whether a company’s practices violate state or federal laws, such as the Unfair and Deceptive Acts or Practices and the Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices statutes, as well as other consumer finance laws. I help clients respond to these inquiries by, for example, negotiating with the government to negotiate the scope of the requests; fact gathering, such as identifying potentially responsive materials and overseeing document collections; managing and preparing document reviews and productions; preparing and defending witnesses for interviews or investigational hearings; analyzing and understanding what story the information we produce will tell and working to develop a counternarrative; and identifying potential areas of exposure.
How did you choose this practice area?
I came to it somewhat organically. I started out doing general litigation; I had worked as a paralegal in the U.S. Attorney’s Office before law school and then as a law clerk in a trial and appellate court after law school. I had some great experiences as a junior associate working on commercial disputes, but as I began working on investigations, I found that I really enjoyed the strategy and negotiation involved in government investigations and the overall cadence of these types of cases. I also really enjoy working with our clients to develop strategy around how best to explain their businesses and practices to the government in ways the government may not have fully understood before and advocating for why their products and services are beneficial to consumers.
What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?
A typical day involves a lot of coordination with my team on upcoming deadlines. I’m often on calls with clients discussing the details of our responses to regulators, advising on issues relating to regulatory compliance, or talking through the broader strategy for how we’re handling an investigation. I also review document summaries that junior associates prepared and provide feedback. I work very closely with junior and mid-level associates who are usually the first to draft emails to a client or a regulator, tackle legal research, draft responses or a brief, or identify documents. At Paul Hastings, associates play a significant role in our substantive work from day one of their careers. I’ll give them an assignment, we discuss the approach, and I provide feedback or rework the original draft. That’s the usual process and a good part of a typical day for me. This process aligns with the firmwide focus on mentoring; from day one, we push associates beyond their comfort zones through hands-on mentoring in addition to formal training throughout their careers.
What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?
I think practical experience is always the most valuable. Experience in government is especially helpful for junior associates because it gives them real insight into how the government operates. Experience working directly with clients or potential clients through pro bono work or situations in which you interview people and gathering information is also great. Past work experience where you’ve had to distill information to pass along to someone else is very valuable in this practice. Also, anyone who has had to manage their time in a stressful environment brings something useful to the table; knowing how to prioritize, stay organized, and maximize your efficiency is critical. This kind of experience can come from any context or any job.
What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?
I would say the most challenging part is bridging the gap between our clients and the government. It’s also the most rewarding part, which makes it fun. We’re advocating for our clients in a way that helps the government understand their position, showing that our clients are actually trying to help consumers in ways the regulator may not have fully appreciated at the outset. This advocacy sometimes happens through meetings and conferences and other times through writing, such as in responses to government requests or voluntary submissions. A big part is stepping back and reframing the question the government has asked based on certain assumptions. That’s actually the fun part of the job but also the most challenging.
What do you like best about your practice area?
I really enjoy working with colleagues who are constantly thinking about both the macro and micro strategy of representing clients. Paul Hastings’ firm culture centers on collaboration. On the one hand, how do we approach an investigation as a whole? On the other hand, how do we respond to each specific request? What’s interesting is how these two levels interact with each other. Our decisions in responding to specific requests can impact our broader strategy, and vice versa. It’s not just about the immediate issue; it’s also about what it means for our client and how they think about consumer protection more broadly, especially given changes in technology and evolving consumer expectations. All of these issues are interesting to me from both a practical and academic standpoint.
What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?
Junior associates play a big role in our work. They typically are the ones most in the weeds when we collect facts and documents from clients and, based on that knowledge, help to review requests from the government and figure out how we should respond. They analyze these requests, conduct legal research, and draft letters and memos to the government. They also review documents to provide analysis and summaries, identifying what’s important to our case or what might be problematic for our client. They then present all of this work to the more-senior attorneys on the team and help us prepare for the next step, which might be a report or recommendation to the client or a meeting with a regulator.
How do you see this practice area evolving in the future?
I think our practice area will continue to evolve alongside technology. I think we will see new issues emerge as consumer expectations and understanding of financial products change. AI is one big area: More companies are adopting it, regulators have questions about how it’s being used, and consumers are asking what their rights and protections are in this space. We are also considering how to use AI in our own practice. Finally, as our firm continues to grow very rapidly and take on increasingly large and complex cases, our practice is on track to expand to handle more sophisticated, high-stakes matters that require deeper knowledge, innovative thinking, and enhanced cross-practice collaboration.