Emily Honsa Hicks

Attorney
About

Emily Honsa Hicks is a Senior Financial Regulatory Attorney with over ten years of legal experience in financial services regulation, compliance, and mediation. With a focus on financial regulatory and technology matters, she advises financial institutions ranging from traditional banks to innovative fintechs on federal and state compliance matters. Her practice areas include electronic transactions, secured and unsecured lending, real estate and mortgage lending, blockchain and cryptocurrency. The breadth of her experience, practicing both inside organizations and as external counsel means, that she can understand her clients' operational challenges as few in private practice can.

Prior to joining DLA Piper, Emily not only worked in private practice at top financial services firms but also gained valuable industry working "in house". From underwriting counsel for a real property title insurance underwriter, assisting title insurance agents in their resolution of complex real estate legal issues on behalf of a leading insurance underwriter to performing consumer regulatory audits, supporting multiple lines of business to ensure regulatory, bankruptcy, and foreclosure compliance, and handling compliance review of escalated regulatory complaints and complaint reporting, trending, and analysis at a national bank , her breadth of experience informs her practice. In multiple roles, she interpreted supervisory guidance and actions to apply to hone compliant policies and procedures as well as existing or proposed risks and controls for various financial institutions.

Emily holds an Executive Certificate in Negotiation and a Certificate in Strategies for Conflict Management from the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, and served as a court mediator. While in law school, she interned at the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in Washington, D.C., handling immigration and criminal matters at the US Attorney's Office and administrative labor law and criminal matters at NCIS.

Emily is active in civic engagement, with particular dedication to the Refugee Response, the Chagrin Valley Little Theater and Les Delices. She values community service and enjoys pro bono legal work.

Bar admissionsDistrict of ColumbiaOhio
Education
  • J.D., Cleveland State University
  • B.A., Hiram College
  • Executive Certificate in Negotiation, University of Notre Dame

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