David L. Beam

Mr. Beam has a national practice advising both financial institutions and nonfinancial companies on state and federal laws regulating providers of financial products and services to consumers. This includes:

• Counseling clients on federal and state laws that regulate consumer financial products and services;
• Working with state and federal financial regulators to obtain approvals, licenses, or regulatory guidance;
• Defending companies in federal and state government audits, investigations, and enforcement actions; and
• Assisting in litigation matters, including putative class action proceedings, involving consumer financial laws.

In 2013, Super Lawyers named Mr. Beam a rising star in the District of Columbia.

Payment Systems
Mr. Beam has an active practice representing various parties involved in consumer payment systems. He advises clients on compliance with a broad range of federal and state laws that regulate payment systems. These include, for example, state money service business (money transmitter) laws; state credit card laws; state gift and prepaid card laws; the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act and Regulation E; the Credit CARD Act of 2009; Regulation II (the regulation implementing the Durbin amendment); and FinCEN regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act. He also negotiates transactions among parties involved in providing payment services, drafts consumer user agreements, and defends clients in government investigations and enforcement proceedings.

Mr. Beam’s clients range from startups to some of the world’s largest financial institutions. His practice embraces both traditional payment systems—such as plastic card-based systems—and emerging payment technologies.

Federal Preemption
A significant part of Mr. Beam’s compliance practice involves advising financial institutions on the federal preemption of state and local laws regulating financial institutions. Mr. Beam has published and presented extensively on the preemption of state financial laws, particularly state consumer financial laws. He is also the Chair of the Preemption and Federalism Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Consumer Financial Services Committee.

Credit Regulation
Mr. Beam represents a broad range of clients in the consumer lending and servicing industries.  These include mortgage lenders, servicers and investors; credit card companies; student loan companies; consumer finance companies; and debt collectors.  His practice focuses on helping clients develop new credit products and ensure ongoing compliance with federal and state consumer credit laws.  He also performs compliance audits of consumer credit companies for potential purchasers or investors.