Attorneys Alan Lindeke and Colgate Selden have formed a new law firm, SeldenLindeke LLP, that will cater to the regulatory, transactional, enforcement defense and litigation needs of financial and technology clients nationwide.
With offices in Washington, D.C. and Orange County, California, SeldenLindeke LLP will focus on all aspects of federal and state regulatory and licensing laws applicable to consumer and mortgage lending and capital markets clients, including banks, lenders, credit unions, CDFIs, settlement service providers, fintechs, blockchain developers, servicers, technology vendors, investors, and secondary market participants.
Selden and Lindeke each bring more than 20 years of experience in senior legal, risk, compliance and executive leadership roles at the U.S. Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), leading international law firms, banks, lenders and technology and fulfillment services providers.
“Our combination of legal, regulatory, risk and operational experience will enable SeldenLindeke to provide strategic and pragmatic advice more cost effectively than large, legacy firms,” Selden said. “Our firm will not operate under the intense billing pressures and higher profit per partner metrics common in larger law firms today.”
Selden was a founding member of the Treasury team that stood up the CFPB and was a Senior Counsel in the CFPB Office of Regulations where he was involved with multiple rulemaking efforts, including the TRID, HELOC, Loan Originator Compensation, ATR-QM, Regulation P and Debt Collection rules. In the private sector, he was a partner at Alston & Bird LLP and later the head of regulatory, legal, compliance and risk at Promontory Mortgagepath, a fintech and fulfillment firm, where he reported to the CEO/Founder of Promontory Financial Group and a former Comptroller of the Currency. Most recently, Selden was a partner at BlankRome LLP.
Lindeke brings first-hand experience in every facet of the mortgage origination process to the firm. Prior to beginning his legal career, Lindeke worked in every aspect of mortgage origination from origination, processing, and underwriting, to closing. He was also a branch manager, and even ran his own mortgage brokerage. This hands-on-experience, combined with his unparalleled knowledge of relevant laws and regulations, allows him to offer unique insight into solving real-world legal and regulatory issues with minimal impact and disruption to related business units. Over the past 11 years, he has served as Chief Compliance Counsel for several mortgage lenders, fintechs, financial institutions, and diligence providers (obtaining his CRCM designation from the American Bankers Association along the way). Most recently, he served as General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer, and will continue to serve the role of outside General Counsel, at Change Lending LLC. Throughout his career he has dealt with multiple legacy repurchase litigations, mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and community-focused lending program matters. Given this successful track record, he was recently named a finalist for the prestigious Los Angeles Times In-House Counsel of the Year Award in 2023.
“The firm is well positioned to address the current needs of our clients in any given market and regulatory environment,” Lindeke added. “Today, that might be special purpose credit programs, fair lending, and privacy matters. Tomorrow, it could be helping clients establishing new business models that increase access to credit in underserved markets, or new technologies to further automate application and underwriting processes to deliver higher quality, more efficient outcomes.”
