James W. Wright, Jr., Business Attorney in Birmingham, Alabama

Jay Wright is a partner in the firm’s Banking and Financial Services and Litigation practice groups. Jay has earned his Accredited Mortgage Professional (AMP) designation through the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), and is one of a small number of lawyers who have achieved this status.

Jay’s practice focuses on financial services litigation and regulation, and he is actively involved in lawsuits and disputes across the country representing companies involved in a wide array of state and federal law claims. His representation includes general defense of various claims against financial institutions, mortgage companies, and other commercial entities. Many of these claims involve allegations of wrongful foreclosure proceedings or violations of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) regulations, as well as various deceptive trade practices claims under state law.

Jay advises some of the nation’s largest financial institutions and mortgage companies as they adapt to changes in the regulatory and judicial environments in which they operate. His regulatory practice involves helping clients in the financial services and mortgage industries comply with obligations imposed on them by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (FRB), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and a host of state banking regulators and court systems. A significant portion of Jay’s practice is devoted to helping lenders and servicers of Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs or “reverse mortgages”) implement regulatory changes mandated by HUD, as well as interfacing directly with HUD to seek clarification about or revisions to proposed regulatory changes. As part of his general regulatory practice, Jay develops and regularly updates standardized judicial and non-judicial foreclosure documents for mortgage companies, conducts third-party vendor management legal compliance interviews, and provides due diligence of internal procedures and files being service-transferred between financial institutions and mortgage companies.

Jay also advises financial institutions on how to effectively and efficiently comply with the various Anti-Money Laundering (AML) statutes and regulations, including the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Money Laundering Control Act (MLCA).