Melissa Baal Guidorizzi brings significant consumer finance expertise to DWT's financial services practice. In addition to serving as a regulatory and litigation advisor both in private practice and in-house at a global financial institution, Melissa spent nearly a decade as senior counsel in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's enforcement division.
Melissa has built strong relationships with banks as well as payments and data companies that provide direct-to-consumer products and services. E-commerce companies that rely on consumer data to provide payment options need practical regulatory advice amid CFPB enforcement actions in these spaces, and Melissa's experience here is second to none. Having joined the CFPB just years after its inception, Melissa developed the bureau's supervision and enforcement priorities and policies related to credit cards, deposits and prepaid accounts, traditional and emerging payment systems, and remittances. She also shaped policymaking and regulations that impact cryptocurrency markets as well as more traditional frameworks, including TILA, EFTA, FCRA, and UDAAP prohibitions. Her government work placed her in a key position to cooperate with various federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Treasury and Justice departments, the FTC, the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, and state attorneys general.
Melissa has counseled traditional financial institutions and emerging fintechs on compliance, litigation, government investigations, and enforcement actions by the CFPB, FTC, and other agencies. Before joining the CFPB, Melissa worked at Citigroup, advising on fintech product development and litigation risks. She has practiced at law firms in New York and Washington, D.C. She also served as COO of an East Coast nonprofit at a crucial time, rebuilding the organization during the financial crisis.
Admitted to Practice
- District of Columbia
- New York
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Education
- J.D., Cornell Law School
- Executive Editor: Cornell International Law Journal
- Vice President: Asian American Law
- B.A., Government, Cornell University
Memberships & Affiliations
- New York Bar, First Department
- Co-lead, Consumer Protection Subcommittee, New York City Bar Task Force on Digital Technologies
- Governing Committee, Conference on Consumer Finance Law
- Lawyer's Committee, Consumer Bankers Association
- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Professional Recognition
- Honoree for white paper on "Virtual Assets Ecosystem in El Salvador" – Michael Cooper Celebration of International Pro Bono Excellence, Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, 2024
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director's Mission Achievement Awardee, 2016
Background
- Partner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Washington, D.C.
- Counsel, O'Melveny & Myers, Washington, D.C.
- Senior Counsel, Policy and Strategy, Office of Enforcement, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Washington, D.C.
- Chief Operating Officer, National Summer Learning Association
- Director, Associate General Counsel, Citi Consumer Finance North America, Citigroup, Baltimore
- Associate, Andrews & Kurth LLP, New York
- Associate, Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP, New York
- Associate, Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells, New York
- Intern, Housing and Civil Enforcement, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice