Elizabeth is among a select group of lawyers in private practice with a solid decade working in-house for Farm Credit lending institutions.
Lending to farms and agricultural concerns is a world of its own, and few lawyers understand that world with Elizabeth’s depth of knowledge and experience, having worked for both a funding bank and an association in the Farm Credit System. Elizabeth has spent more than 15 years as in-house counsel for major industry lenders, serving in a variety of roles, including General Counsel and Standards of Conduct Official. She has advised and counseled on substantially all legal matters for Farm Credit lending institutions, including custom loan documentation, loan origination systems, form development, loan reviews, regulations involving Farm Credit, banking, and consumer credit, corporate governance, litigation management, labor and employment matters, criminal referrals, and internal investigations. Elizabeth routinely provides training to all levels within the organization and is frequently asked to speak on a variety of topics, including Borrower Rights and distressed lending, criminal referrals, standards of conduct, ECOA, TILA, RESPA, TRID, FCRA, HMDA, flood insurance, the Military Lending Act, and data privacy. She has served as a member of executive management and frequently interacts with the regulator on behalf of her clients. Elizabeth prepares policies and procedures for all federal and state regulatory compliance for commercial and consumer lending and also advises throughout examinations and audits.
All in all, Elizabeth’s close working relationships with Boards, senior management, and business unit heads has instilled in her a very practical mindset in approaching legal challenges. Her experience at both ends of the credit cycle, with changes in economy and other factors that affect agricultural lending, and with the evolution of public policy enables Elizabeth to provide legal advice that unlocks value and manages risk.