Bimal Patel, formerly of O'Melveny & Myers.

Bimal Patel, a former leading financial regulatory partner at O'Melveny & Myers, is the Trump administration's nominee for a top supervisory post at the U.S. Treasury Department.

Patel was nominated last week to be assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial institutions. The position, which requires U.S. Senate confirmation, coordinates the department's efforts on legislation and regulation that affect financial institutions and securities markets.

Since May 2017, Patel has served as the deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for the Financial Stability Oversight Council. He joined the Treasury from O'Melveny's Washington office, where he headed the financial advisory and regulation practice.

At O'Melveny, Patel had been regulatory counsel on merger transactions and fund investments, and he represented financial industry clients in class action litigation over credit discrimination statutes.

Some of his clients included Deutsche Bank Securities, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, U.S. Bancorp, BB&T Corp., Alibaba Group Holding, Chain Bridge Partners, Fannie Mae and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, according to a financial disclosure on file at the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Patel in 2017 reported about $666,000 in partner share at the firm. O'Melveny this year told The American Lawyer that revenue per lawyer in 2017 remained relatively flat at $1.2 million, while profits per partner saw an increase to $2.01 million.

Patel would succeed Christopher Campbell, who was confirmed in August 2017 to the post but left the Treasury in recent weeks. Campbell formerly was majority staff director on the Senate Finance Committee.

Campbell's final financial disclosure report at the Treasury—called a “termination” report, which is filed when an official leaves an agency—shows he became a member of the board of directors at West Corp. and Coinstar. The companies are both owned by the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. West Corp., based in Omaha, Nebraska, provides voice and data services globally.

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A Treasury spokesperson was not immediately reached for comment Monday about Campbell's departure from the agency. The Treasury still identified Campbell on the agency's website as of Monday as the assistant secretary for financial institutions.

Cyrus Amir-Mokri, the last Obama appointee to hold the financial institutions post, rejoined Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as partner after his resignation. In 2015, Amir-Mokri was named general counsel to JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s corporate and investment banking division.

Patel isn't the only former O'Melveny partner serving in the Trump administration. Former O'Melveny partner Michael Walsh Jr. is now deputy general counsel to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Walsh, who represented companies facing securities class actions and enforcement actions, reported receiving more than $2 million in partner share at the firm.

Earlier in his career, Patel served for three years as a senior adviser in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., where he advised on matters including fair lending and banking policy. Patel is also affiliated with Stanford University, where he is a lecturer. Patel reported receiving $20,000 in income from Stanford last year, according to a financial disclosure report he filed in May.

 

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