Manuel H. (Manny) Newburger leads the Consumer Financial Services Law Practice Group at Barron & Newburger, P.C., a national law firm based in Austin, Texas. A well-known author on the FDCPA and similar laws, he has defended individual and class action lawsuits across the country and consulted to collection industry members throughout the U.S., India, the Philippines, and Canada. His practice group focuses on litigation, litigation management, and compliance. A Fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers, Mr. Newburger has taught consumer law at the University of Texas School of Law since 1999.

Clark Hill

Joann Needleman leads the firm’s financial services regulatory and compliance practice and advises banks, financial institutions, and financial services entities on regulatory compliance matters. Joann also Co-Chairs firm’s Administrative Law Action Team.

Joann prepares and represents these same financial institutions during state and federal supervisory examinations and regulatory investigations before agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) as well as state financial services regulators and attorneys general.

A former member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Consumer Advisory Board, Joann provides her clients with useful strategies and common-sense solutions in order to prepare for areas of regulatory scrutiny.

Leslie Bender counsels financial services and healthcare clients on a broad range of privacy, data security, and consumer financial protection laws.

She provides counsel on matters including privacy, consumer financial protection, HIPAA, data security, labor and employment, litigation, contracts, alternative dispute resolution and mediation, government affairs, regulatory relations, and change and project management. Leslie has more than two decades of experience in privacy and consumer financial protection and related regulatory relations before various federal and state regulators.

In addition, Leslie has more than 30 years of experience working with financial institutions, collection agencies, and as a compliance consultant and trainer for hospitals. Recognized as a national authority on information privacy and security law, she was one of the first privacy officers accredited by the International Association of Privacy Professionals as a Certified Information Privacy Professional. She is both a credentialed privacy officer, a CIPP/US, and a credentialed credit/collection professional, IFCCE (International Fellowship of Credit and Collections Executives).

Prior to joining Eversheds Sutherland, Leslie served as the Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel for BCA Financial Services, Inc. Before that, she was general counsel and vice president of government affairs at ARS National Services in Escondido, California.