Ms. Laird practices in the area of financial institutions law.  Her clients are commercial banks, trust companies, savings banks, savings associations and their holding companies.  Her practice includes:

• representation of financial institutions before state and Federal bank and securities regulatory agencies, including:  the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of Thrift Supervision,  and the Securities and Exchange Commission;
• counseling clients on mergers and acquisitions, interstate branching, trust operations and de novo charter and other operations;
• advising clients on the sale, offering and design of various deposit and investment products within a financial services company, including brokerage services, sweep accounts, private banking services, and mutual fund and insurance products; and
• assisting clients in chartering federal or state-chartered trust companies and offering collective investment funds

Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Laird was General Counsel of the National Council of Savings Institutions which represented over 600 savings banks and thrift institutions.  Ms. Laird also served in the Office of General Counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board where she had the position of Senior Associate General Counsel for Legislative and Regulatory Affairs.

Ms. Laird is a prior Chairman of the Savings Institutions Law Committee of the Federal Bar Association.  She has authored a publication entitled Mutual Funds:  A Handbook for Bankers.  She was formerly Vice Chairman of the Banking Law Committee of the ABA Administrative Law Section.

Publications

• "A New Era: Depository Institutions and Their Holding Companies Face a Deluge of Regulatory Changes," K&L Gates Client Alert, July 20, 2010
• "Increased Regulation of U.S. and Non-U.S. Private Fund Advisers Under the Dodd-Frank Act," K&L Gates Client Alert, July 9, 2010
• "A New Playing Field for the Banking Industry: The National Banking Supervisor and Systemic Risk," K&L Gates Capital Markets Reform Update, August 2009
• "Regulatory Implications of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Becoming Financial Holding Companies," K&L Gates Global Financial Markets Alert, November 2008
• "Federal Reserve Relaxes Definition of Control Under Bank Holding Company Act," K&L Gates Client Alert, October 2008

• American Bar Association (Former Vice Chairman, Administrative Law Section, Banking Law Committee)
• District of Columbia Bar
• Women in Housing and Finance (past president)
• Women in Housing and Finance Foundation (board member)