Bank Counsel Seminar

Joel Cook became a principal of Aldrich & Bonnefin, PLC* in January 2018, having joined the firm as an associate in 2011. Mr. Cook manages the firm’s Corporate Practice Group which includes commercial lending and corporate securities law.

Mr. Cook regularly advises financial institutions on commercial lending matters, including with regard to commercial and industrial loans, real estate loans, loan participations, loan workouts and letters of credit.

Barry A. Smith is a Shareholder and a senior member of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group and Chairman of the Financial Institutions Practice Group. Mr. Smith focuses his practice on representing financial institutions and other business entities, both domestically and internationally. Mr. Smith has extensive experience in business and commercial litigation, creditors’ rights, real estate, loan workouts and restructuring, provisional remedies, receiverships, collections, and post-judgment enforcement. He also handles complex defense litigation including tort, contract law, and real estate.

Ted Teruo Kitada is retired. He was formerly a senior vice president & senior company counsel with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., from 1997-2020, specializing in bank operations with an emphasis on Articles 3, 4 and 4A of the UCC; unclaimed property; Regulations D, E, CC, DD, GG, and the NACHA Operating Rules. He is an advisor to the CBA Legal Affairs Committee.

Ben is a strategic financial services lawyer and business leader with over 15 years’ experience as an in-house and outside counsel to banks and fintechs, most recently as a Vice President and Associate General Counsel at First Republic Bank (now a brand of J.P. Morgan Chase), where Ben served as the lead counsel to the bank’s mortgage lending business. Ben has worked across a variety of industry verticals, through which experiences he has engaged with and counseled his clients on a variety of issues at the intersection of financial services and artificial intelligence. Ben is currently in his second term as co-president of the Bay Area Financial Services Legal Association (BAFSLA), chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Consumer Financial Services – Housing Finance subcommittee, and vice chair of the California Lawyer’s Association’s (CLA) Financial Institutions Committee.

Mike Zandpour is a Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel at City National Bank. Mike supports a variety of business areas within the bank, including commercial, corporate, entertainment, technology, SBA, and private banking. Mike served as the lead attorney in resolution of four whole-bank acquisitions through FDIC loss share. 

Mike was the 2015 chair of the California State Bar’s Business Law Section Financial Institutions Committee.

Michael Delune currently serves as General Counsel of Manufacturers Bank, an SMBC Group company. As primary legal advisor to the bank and a member of its executive leadership team, Michael drives the bank’s legal strategy and advises the bank’s management and its board of directors on a variety of legal risks in addition to acting as the bank’s corporate secretary, overseeing regulatory interactions, and previously serving as the bank’s Chief Risk Officer. With more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, Michael frequently leverages his comprehensive expertise in corporate transactions, governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance to enhance business success.

Keith Forrester is a principal of Aldrich & Bonnefin, PLC*, specializing in all areas of banking operations, including negotiable instruments, electronic banking, payment systems, new accounts, legal processes, California and Federal laws on financial privacy, funds availability rules and Bank Secrecy Act compliance. He is admitted to the United States District Courts for the Central, Eastern and Southern Districts of California.