Jehan Patterson is a litigation counsel based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group. Her practice focuses on advising and representing banks, nonbank financial institutions, businesses, and individuals on matters related to consumer finance regulatory compliance and enforcement by multiple state and federal regulators, leveraging her extensive experience as a civil litigator, trial lawyer, and government enforcement attorney.
Prior to joining Debevoise, Ms. Patterson served as a senior litigation counsel in the Office of Enforcement at the CFPB for over six years, where she investigated numerous providers of consumer financial products and services for violations of federal consumer financial laws and regulations, including the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s prohibition against unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices, resulting in entry of administrative consent orders and federal district court judgments. Some of her notable settlements imposed extensive injunctive relief requiring entities to make significant investments in their technology systems and compliance programs to avoid future violations of law. She also litigated on behalf of the Bureau, including representing the Bureau in its first advisory jury trial, obtaining a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to shut down a network of student loan debt relief companies and freeze their assets, and defeating a defendant’s motion for attorney’s fees and costs. In addition, Ms. Patterson provided enforcement support to supervisory examinations across a number of products, services, and markets.
Ms. Patterson coordinated on parallel matters with the United States Department of Justice and on enforcement investigations with states Attorneys’ General offices and state banking regulators.
Prior to her time at the CFPB, Ms. Patterson was a staff attorney at a public interest law firm where she represented clients in impact litigation concerning, among other issues, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), access to courts, data privacy, class actions, workers’ rights, constitutional claims, and Administrative Procedure Act challenges. Ms. Patterson was an associate at Debevoise earlier in her career before serving as a law clerk to Judge Anne E. Thompson in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey. She also worked at another international law firm and a non-profit agency representing clients in residential foreclosure actions and in affirmative litigation against lenders and mortgage servicers.
Ms. Patterson received her B.A. magna cum laude from Brown University and her J.D. cum laude from New York University School of Law.