Melissa Hall

Melissa Hall works with both traditional banks as well as cutting edge fintech and cryptocurrency companies to provide guidance on the complicated, rapidly changing regulatory landscape. With over two decades of experience, most recently as General Counsel of one of the first deposit-taking banks focused on cryptocurrency, clients regularly turn to Melissa as a trusted advisor on complex, cross-discipline financial regulatory matters that require in-depth knowledge of regulations and business lines. 

Melissa advises clients on all aspects of financial institutions laws, including the Bank Holding Company Act, the National Bank Act, the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, and key state banking law requirements. Melissa’s practice involves counseling clients on a wide range of traditional bank and finance regulatory compliance and enforcement issues at both the state and federal levels, including licensing requirements, bank failure and receivership issues, consumer financial products and compliance, corporate and transactional matters, anti-money laundering compliance, financial institution investment and acquisition, as well as advising in the development of new financial services products.

Melissa has developed a niche advising on emerging regulatory issues in connection with financial technology, including payment systems rules, credit cards and stored value cards, money services businesses, virtual currency transmission and custody, marketplace lending, and consumer financial regulatory requirements. She also represents nonbank financial institutions and their investors to conduct due diligence reviews of regulatory compliance and of state and federal bank and consumer financial laws. Melissa takes pride in partnering with her clients to understand their legal risks and business goals in order to move forward and remain innovative while operating in areas a regulatory environment that lags behind faster-paced innovation.

Based in Washington DC, Melissa has cultivated long-standing connections throughout the regulatory arena, giving her a unique industry insight and access to resources critical to the success of her clients. Prior to starting her private practice, Melissa served as an attorney in the Office of the Chief Counsel of the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Public Debt. 

On the corporate side of her practice, Melissa advises banks and financial services companies, as well as their directors and officers, in connection with corporate governance, management, business and operational, investment, and merger and acquisition (M&A) matters, as well as bank securities and fiduciary activities. She has a particular interest on the issues facing bank and fintech companies in the current regulatory environment.