Eric is Counsel in the firm's Commercial Finance & Banking and Financial Services Practice Groups. He practices primarily in the area of financial institution law and regulation and mergers and acquisitions, though his practice also extends to the areas of corporate and real estate law.
Eric represents banks, thrifts, and their holding companies in a wide range of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, branch purchase and sale transactions, bank and thrift conversions, permissible activities and activity restrictions, regulatory capital requirements, branching, interstate expansion, affiliate transactions, insider lending, de novo bank formations, holding company formations and going-private transactions. He also assists clients with problem bank issues, including the negotiation of and compliance with formal and informal regulatory enforcement actions, capital planning, prompt corrective action requirements, and asset quality, management, and liquidity deficiencies.
Eric has practiced before various state bank regulatory agencies as well as the regional and national offices of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS).
Eric is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Corporate Governance and Compliance Law. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he was a Hugo L. Black Scholar. Prior to law school, he received his B.A. from Auburn University and his M.I.M. from Baylor University.
Representative Matters
· Negotiated formal and informal enforcement actions on behalf of state-chartered and national banks, and assisted in related compliance efforts
· Oversaw the conversion of a multi-billion-dollar state-chartered bank to a federal savings association, the conversion of a multi-billion-dollar state-chartered bank to a national bank, and the conversion of a multi-billion-dollar national bank to a state chartered bank
· Chartered new banks
· Established one-bank holding companies
· Handled the regulatory issues associated with a large number of bank, thrift, and holding company sales and acquisitions ranging from $50 million to $1 billion
· Assisted numerous banks in achieving their interstate expansion objectives through charter acquisitions
Presentations
· "The Regulatory Enforcement Process", January 12, 2010, Weathering the Storm Webinar Series
· "The Current Banking Environment and Its Implications For Your Next Exam", December 15, 2009, Weathering the Storm Webinar Series
· "Guidelines on Commercial Real Estate Loans," February 16, 2007, Alabama Bar Institute for Continuing Legal Education, Banking Law Update 2007
Memberships & Bar Associations
Alabama State Bar
American Bar Association