Thomas P. Vartanian
tvartanian@vllawfirm.com
Prior to establishing Vartanian & Ledig, Mr. Vartanian chaired the Financial Institutions practices at Dechert LLP and Fried Frank between 1983 and 2018. During this time, he assisted clients through four financial crises and was consistently recognized by clients as “one of the best financial services lawyers in America.”
Mr. Vartanian was the Founder and Executive Director of the Program on Financial Regulation & Technology and a Professor of Law at George Mason University’s Scalia Law School from 2018 to 2021.
Mr. Vartanian served in the Reagan Administration as General Counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and the FSLIC. In that role, he authorized the receivership, sale or liquidation of more than 430 failed S&Ls, and orchestrated the merger of hundreds of others in some of the first interstate and inter-industry acquisitions done in the country. Prior to that, he served in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as Special Assistant to the Chief Counsel and Senior Antitrust Litigation Attorney.
In 2017, Mr. Vartanian was a finalist interviewed to be President Trump’s choice as the first Vice Chairman for Regulation of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.
Mr. Vartanian served as Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Cyberspace Law Committee between 1998 and 2002, when he chaired an international task force of lawyers from twenty countries which issued a seminal report on the novel jurisdiction issues created by electronic commerce and virtual currencies entitled, “Achieving Legal and Business Order in Cyberspace: A Report on Global Jurisdiction Issues Created by Cyberspace.”
Mr. Vartanian has authored more than four hundred articles and seven books, including 21st Century Money, Banking and Commerce. He is a frequent lecturer and media commentator on the financial services industry.
Mr. Vartanian has taught banking and electronic commerce law at Georgetown Law School, George Washington Law School, and Boston University School of Law, and has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School.
In 2008, Mr. Vartanian was named “Washingtonian of the Year” based on his use of music and sports to raise money for charities in the D.C. metropolitan area.
Mr. Vartanian received his JD from Brooklyn Law School and his BA from Cathedral College.
Robert H. Ledig
rledig@vllawfirm.com
Prior to establishing Vartanian & Ledig, Mr. Ledig practiced law at Dechert LLP and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP in Washington, DC from 1984 through 2018. Prior to that he was an attorney at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, DC.
Mr. Ledig was Director of the Program on Financial Regulation & Technology and a Professor of Law at George Mason University’s Scalia Law School from 2018 to 2021.
Mr. Ledig has extensive experience in banking and financial services regulation and related financial technology, privacy and information security, corporate, securities, administrative law and litigation matters. He has written and spoken widely on financial services issues.
Mr. Ledig is an editor and author of a number of books including: The Volcker Rule: Commentary and Analysis (Thomson Reuters 2014), Dechert LLP’s Analysis of Financial Regulatory Reform [The Dodd-Frank Act] for the American Bankers Association (2010), 21st Century Money Banking & Commerce(1998), Management of Risks Created by Internet-Initiated Value Transfers (National Automated Clearing House Association 1995), The Fair Lending Guide (Glasser Legal Works 1995) and Contracting with the RTC and FDIC (Prentice Hall Law and Business 1991).
He received his JD with Honors from George Washington University Law School and his BA with Honors from Harpur College at the State University of New York at Binghamton.