Chris Gattuso focuses her practice on corporate and securities matters, financial institution regulatory matters and mergers and acquisitions. Ms. Gattuso’s securities practice includes serving as counsel for both issuers and underwriters in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities and counseling clients on disclosure and other requirements under the federal securities laws. She has extensive experience in corporate reorganizations, strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions for both public and private companies. She has represented numerous financial institutions in mutual to stock conversions and mutual holding company reorganizations and advises mutual financial institutions on a variety of banking and corporate matters.

Ms. Gattuso represents financial institutions and their holding companies on regulatory enforcement matters and appeals of material supervisory actions. She also advises financial services companies on a wide range of regulatory, consumer protection and compliance matters before the federal and state banking agencies, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve Board and before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She represents financial institutions in connection with fair lending inquiries and Department of Justice fair lending investigations.

Ms. Gattuso also advises boards of directors and board committees on corporate governance matters, including Sarbanes-Oxley and best practices.

Ms. Gattuso advises private investors, including private equity funds, hedge funds and foreign investors, in structuring investment vehicles to acquire controlling and non-controlling investments in financial institutions and their holding companies. She also counsels organizers of federal and state de novo financial institutions with respect to the regulatory process and the banking, corporate and securities law issues that arise in connection with the de novo process. Ms. Gattuso's experience with de novo financial institutions ranges from typical community banking institutions to more complex de novo financial institutions such as a de novo venture bank and a de novo thrift formed by a national trade association.

Ms. Gattuso advises corporate clients on matters relating to privacy and the use of social media by companies and their employees. Ms. Gattuso also advises nonprofit organizations, including trade associations, on general corporate law and federal tax matters.

Ms. Gattuso has spoken at various conferences and seminars on corporate governance, financial institutions law and regulation and privacy and social media.

Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Gattuso served as Regulatory Counsel with the Regulations and Legislation Division of Federal Home Loan Bank Board, was an attorney for the Division of Market Regulation at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and prior to that worked at the Office of General Counsel at the Department of Commerce and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Ms. Gattuso has been recognized as a 2014 Washington D.C. "Super Lawyer" in the area of Securities and Corporate Finance by Super Lawyers magazine.