Paul Hastings snags O’Melveny lawyer advising busy fintech clients

Signage is seen outside of the Paul Hastings law firm in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 30, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

(Reuters) – Paul Hastings said Thursday it has picked up Laurel Loomis Rimon, former co-chair of O’Melveny & Myers’ fintech practice, as large firms continue hiring lawyers to counsel clients in the growing industry.

Fintech lawyers have been in demand recently as the emerging fintech field grows. Law firms such as Norton Rose Fulbright, Mayer Brown and distributed firm Scale are among those that hired fintech partners over the past year.

D.C-based Rimon will be a member of Paul Hastings’ investigations and white-collar defense, fintech and payments and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau practices.

With the fintech industry increasingly subject to government scrutiny under the Biden administration, Rimon said one of the “most significant” matters she is helping her clients to understand is consumer protection.

“It’s very challenging right now because there is a lot of attention by the government in a bunch of different areas, everything from securities to anti-money laundering to consumer protection to financial policy,” Rimon said.

She joined O’Melveny in 2018 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General, where she was general counsel for three years.

She was formerly an attorney with the CFPB and spent more than 15 years as a Department of Justice lawyer.

Paul Hastings recently added former Venable partners Allyson Baker and Meredith Boylan in D.C.

Baker is a former financial services practice chair at Venable, and now leads the firm’s CFPB practice.

A representative from O’Melveny said the firm wishes Rimon well.

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