Bruemmer, Russell J.

Russell J. Bruemmer is a partner in the firm's Regulatory and Government Affairs and Corporate and Transactional Departments. He is the chair of the Financial Institutions Practice Group and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Working Group, and a member of the Defense, National Security and Government Contracts Practice Group. Mr. Bruemmer is also a former member of the Executive Committee. He joined the firm in 1981.

In February 1978, Mr. Bruemmer was appointed Special Assistant to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He served in that position until June 1980, when he became Chief Counsel-Congressional Affairs for the FBI, a position he held until he joined the firm in 1981. Mr. Bruemmer also served as Special Counsel to the Director of Central Intelligence from September 1987 to January 1988 and as the Central Intelligence Agency's General Counsel from January 1988 until March 1990. At the CIA, Mr. Bruemmer managed an office of 60 lawyers and was the senior legal officer for the Agency and the Director of Central Intelligence.

Practice

Mr. Bruemmer's practice focuses primarily on the financial services areas, including the negotiation and documentation of acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures and financing transactions, and on corporate governance and corporate structuring matters. He regularly counsels with clients on the regulation of financial services, including enforcement matters and on the programs arising from the Stimulus Act of 2008 and the Recovery Act of 2009. Mr. Bruemmer’s clients also include companies engaged in, and transactions involving, technology and biotechnology, telecommunications, energy and other industry sectors. He has represented some of the country's largest corporations in acquisitions and divestitures, corporate structurings, joint ventures and financings. He also has represented audit committees and special committees in corporate investigations and other special assignments. These assignments have involved both US and international transactions, a number of which have required compliance with an applicable regulatory regime.

Recent Highlights

• Mr. Bruemmer represents numerous entities, including existing banks, private investment vehicles, hedge funds and service providers in issues and transactions arising from the TARP, TALF, TLGP, PPIP and other programs designed to address the current financial crisis. These include both counseling and transactions assignments.
• Mr. Bruemmer has served as lead outside counsel to a major consumer finance company (now HSBC North America) in its acquisition of a $3.5 billion mortgage financing business, a $2 billion consumer finance business, a $1.6 billion portfolio of credit card receivables and related private label credit card program assets, and in the acquisition and divestiture of numerous other business units. He has also represented HSBC Finance's audit committee in specific assignments.
• As lead counsel for Fannie Mae, the largest purchaser of home mortgages in the secondary market, Mr. Bruemmer has represented the corporation and its board and audit committee in regulatory proceedings leading to an accounting restatement, and in a major corporate restructuring. He has also represented them in issuances of equity and debt securities and regularly advises on corporate structure and regulatory issues.
• Mr. Bruemmer leads the team representing the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in its successful application to establish a New York branch office and to provide banking services between the United States and China.
• Mr. Bruemmer represented the non-management directors of Riggs National Corporation in connection with regulatory proceedings, investigations and litigation, which culminated in the sale of Riggs to PNC Financial Services Group.

Professional Activities

Mr. Bruemmer is a member of the American Bar Association, has chaired two ABA subcommittees of the Banking Law Committee and served as vice-chair of an ABA subcommittee on corporate compliance policies. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Federal Bar Association's Banking Law Committee, was a standing committee member of the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security and has consulted with the ABA's Central and Eastern European Law Initiative and the Congressionally mandated Commission on the Advancement of Federal Law Enforcement. Additionally, Mr. Bruemmer is a member of the West Banking & Finance Law Advisory Board.

Mr. Bruemmer became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in 1991, and since 1994, has been a member of the American Law Institute. He also was a director of the Chauncey Group International, Ltd., a subsidiary of Educational Testing Service engaged in professional and occupational licensing and certification testing and assessment from 1999 to 2003. He was elected to the Board of Regents of Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) in 2007. Mr. Bruemmer is the author of numerous articles published in law reviews and other legal publications and regularly speaks at seminars and trade association meetings.

Honors and Awards

• Recognized for his exceptional financial services practice in all editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business since 2006
• Selected by peers for inclusion in each edition of The Best Lawyers in America since 2005; recognized for his work in the areas of banking and financial institutions and transactions law
• Listed in all editions of Who's Who Legal, The International Who's Who of Banking Lawyers as one of the world's top banking lawyers since 2005, and recognized in the 2011 edition of Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers
• Recognized by his peers as one of the world's leading banking attorneys in Legal Media Group's Banking Lawyers
• Selected by his peers as a leading attorney in Washington, DC in the 2010 and 2011 editions of Super Lawyers
• Selected by his clients for the BTI Consulting Group’s 2006 Client Service All-Star Team, a group of 134 lawyers chosen for their outstanding legal work and exceptional client service and previously in 2001
• Distinguished Intelligence Medal, 1990
• Meritorious Intelligence Officer, CIA, 1988
• Distinguished Service Award, Luther College, 2004