Julie Williams is regarded as a leading authority on bank and financial services regulation, having served as Chief Counsel and First Senior Deputy Comptroller of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for two decades. She was the OCC’s chief legal advisor during the Financial Crisis and throughout the Dodd-Frank legislation, and has deep experience with the issues and authorities presented by banking crises, including troubled bank options and banking agency authorities to structure rescues and resolutions. During her time at the OCC, Ms. Williams led groundbreaking work ranging from bank interstate operations and bank powers to privacy rights and was responsible for all of the agency’s legal activities, including enforcement and compliance activities, litigation, legislative initiatives, and regulation of securities and corporate practices of national banks. During her tenure, she was also responsible for the Licensing Department and the Community Affairs Departments. Ms. Williams was first appointed Chief Counsel of the OCC in 1994, was designated the statutory First Deputy in 1997, and was named First Senior Deputy Comptroller in 1999. She served as Acting Comptroller of the Currency from April 1998 until December 1998 and again from October 2004 through August 2005.

Ms. Williams is uniquely positioned to advise banks, financial institutions and other financial services providers in their highest priority and most challenging matters. Her deep technical and substantive knowledge of national banks and federal thrifts enables her to counsel clients on a wide range of complex enforcement, regulatory and transactional issues. She focuses her practice on the representation of financial institutions, providing strategic regulatory and crisis management guidance and advising on internal compliance reviews. Ms. Williams has extensive experience advising domestic and foreign-based banks, mortgage servicers, consumer lending companies and emerging financial services providers on a variety of legal issues, including new types of businesses, the federal consumer financial protection laws, mortgage servicing rules, state consumer protection and licensing laws, and data security and privacy laws. She also regularly counsels financial services clients on enforcement actions taken by the federal banking agencies and other federal and state enforcement bodies.

Prior to her tenure at the OCC, Ms. Williams served in a variety of positions at the Office of Thrift Supervision and its predecessor agency, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. She also served as Managing Director and Global Head of Strategy for Promontory Financial Group.

Professional Activities

Ms. Williams writes and speaks frequently on the regulation of depository institutions, financial services, securities and corporate law matters.