Mercedes Tunstall is a partner in the law firm’s Public Policy practice and is located in the Washington, DC office. Ms. Tunstall counsels clients on compliance with consumer financial services laws, including unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices, as well as the investigations, rulemakings, and proceedings of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission. Her practice covers a range of consumer products, including deposits, credit cards, reverse mortgages, prepaid cards and electronic fund transfers.

Ms. Tunstall has substantial experience working with clients to develop new financial products and services, including mobile wallets, virtual currencies, and prepaid cards. These engagements typically include negotiating agreements with technology vendors, reviewing technical designs, privacy and data security concerns.

She also works with clients from a spectrum of industries on mobile and other e-commerce initiatives, privacy and cybersecurity issues, and the use of social networking sites for marketing, customer service, and crowdsourcing purposes. She has testified on virtual currencies before two subcommittees of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

Prior to joining Pillsbury, Ms. Tunstall was a partner and practice leader of Ballard Spahr’s Privacy and Data Security Group. Before joining Ballard Spahr, Ms. Tunstall was lead counsel for Global Marketing and Deposits at Ally Financial. She also worked in-house for Bank of America, where she managed all legal aspects of e-commerce, and at HSBC, where she managed consumer financial services litigation.

Ms. Tunstall was a Staff Attorney at the Federal Trade Commission, where she investigated and litigated the Commission’s first Internet hijacking case, among other Internet fraud matters.