WilmerHale Hires Michael Dawson and Bolsters its Financial Services Capabilities

WilmerHale Hires Michael Dawson and Bolsters its Financial Services Capabilities

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WilmerHale is pleased to announce that Michael Dawson has joined the firm as partner in its Securities and Financial Services Department. Based in Washington DC, Mr. Dawson joins WilmerHale following 16 years at Promontory Financial Group, a financial services consulting firm that he helped build into a successful global enterprise.

At Promontory, Michael provided advice to financial and technology clients on regulatory compliance matters including anti-money laundering, economic sanctions, anti–bribery and corruption, consumer protection, mortgage servicing, privacy and data protection. He also has an extensive background in designing compliance and remedial programs. In addition, Mr. Dawson served in a number of leadership roles, including founding Promontory’s office in the United Kingdom, its software arm, and its managed services business. He played an integral role in Promontory’s 2016 sale to IBM and subsequently, as CEO of Promontory Asia, oversaw the integration of Promontory’s offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo into IBM.

“Michael is a builder and leader and our clients will benefit from his experience in providing practical guidance to both traditional financial services and FinTech companies. He rounds out our existing Financial Services team while complementing our Bank Regulation and Enforcement and White Collar Defense and Investigations Practices,” said Robert Novick, co-managing partner of WilmerHale.

Mr. Dawson served in the US Department of the Treasury from 2001–2004 as deputy assistant secretary and senior advisor. At Treasury, he helped set and implement policies on sanctions, anti–money laundering, counter terrorist financing, privacy, consumer protection, credit reporting, and anti–identity theft. He began his legal career as a litigation associate at an international law firm in Washington DC.

“WilmerHale has tremendous depth and breadth of experience of leadership on legal issues affecting the financial services industry. I was drawn to its deep government experience and multitude of top–notch regulatory practices that meet the full range of the most pressing legal challenges facing financial institutions and FinTech firms around the world,” said Mr. Dawson.

Mr. Dawson holds a JD from Yale Law School, an M.Phil. in Economics from Cambridge University, and a BA in Economics from Williams College.

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