Joseph & Cohen Expands its Financial Services Legal Team with Attorney Michael Kadish

November 3, 2022 — SAN FRANCISCO, CAJoseph & Cohen, Professional Corporation, has expanded its financial services team with one of the top bank regulatory and compliance lawyers in the country, Michael L. Kadish.  Joseph & Cohen is a boutique law firm based in California, primarily serving the legal requirements of banks, credit unions, fintechs and other financial services companies with highly seasoned and skilled attorneys.

Mr. Kadish is an accomplished bank regulatory, compliance, enforcement and transactional attorney with over 40 years of legal experience. After beginning his career in the Legal Division of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C., Mr. Kadish honed his skills in private practice in Los Angeles. Then, he became a senior in-house lawyer with several of the largest bank holding companies in the world, where he advised on a broad array of cutting-edge matters involving regulatory, compliance and corporate governance, as well as complex transactions and litigation requiring intensive focus on bank regulatory issues.  During the last five years, Mr. Kadish served as General Counsel for a leading fintech company, Total Bank Solutions (TBS), which was acquired in 2022.

As a partner in California-based law firms, Mr. Kadish represented depository institutions in mergers and acquisitions, regulatory matters and complex commercial finance transactions involving novel application of banking law. He represented banks and bankers in enforcement and civil money penalty proceedings brought by federal regulators, parties to litigation brought by the FDIC as receiver for insured banks, and parties to litigation in state and federal courts and arbitration proceedings involving allegations of noncompliance with applicable banking and securities laws.

As regulatory counsel for Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Citibank, Mr. Kadish advised global businesses, line counsel, and other control groups such as compliance, risk management, finance, and treasury on U.S. bank regulatory issues. He responded to regulators’ inquiries and criticisms about compliance with laws and prudential standards and advised on regulatory issues affecting the institutions’ disputes with third parties.  As the head of Legal – U.S. Bank Regulatory for Deutsche Bank and RBS, Mr. Kadish developed strategies for complying with new regulations, including implementing resolution plan requirements and prudential rules for foreign banks under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. He also ensured that new products, proposed complex financing transactions, and operational processes would comply with laws governing the conduct of U.S. banks, bank holding companies, and U.S. operations of foreign banking organizations.

As General Counsel of TBS, a fintech which provides services to banks, broker dealers, and other financial institutions, Mr. Kadish used his experience as a bank regulatory lawyer to help design TBS’s deposit sweep and securities-based lending products and supporting documentation to meet its clients’ business and regulatory needs.  He was responsible for developing TBS’s response to FDIC-proposed rules regarding brokered deposits, and for addressing clients’ needs in FDIC-brokered deposits and pass-through insurance rules, meeting federal bank liquidity requirements, FDIC insurance premium assessment rules, third party risk guidelines, anti-money laundering and sanctions law compliance, and SEC and FINRA rules regarding net capital and customer protection.

Mr. Kadish is a longtime friend and professional acquaintance of Jonathan D. Joseph, the firm’s founder, CEO and Chair of its Financial Services Practice.

Jon Joseph stated, “We are thrilled about the addition of Mike Kadish to our financial services legal team, which is consistent with our strategy to augment our capability to serve banks, financial services companies and fintech clients in their regulatory, enforcement, transactional and compliance matters.  Mike has a stellar reputation and unrivaled experience and with his expertise augmenting our existing financial services group, few firms in the US can match the caliber of this team.”

Mike Kadish added, “I could not pass up the opportunity to become part of Joseph & Cohen, which has shown over the last two decades that a boutique financial services firm can efficiently and creatively provide legal services on complex matters for the most sophisticated financial institutions.”

Mr. Kadish has served on committees and working groups of several US bank trade associations.  He has chaired three subcommittees of the American Bar Association’s Banking Law Committee and has appeared as a speaker or moderator on SIFMA and ABA programs and meetings.  He earned his B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

For Further Information, contact:

Jonathan D. Joseph at 415-817-9250

Jonathan M. Cohen at 415-817-9214