Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP expanded its Financial Regulatory & Compliance Practice with the addition of Shane Foster as shareholder.
Foster, who will be based in the firm’s Phoenix office, previously served as the chief deputy director at the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI), where he managed the agency’s legal team and oversaw the agency’s enforcement and examination programs for financial services and insurance companies and the chartering of depository institutions. Foster will focus his national practice on regulatory matters in areas such as banking, money transmission, lending, and fintech, among others.
“Shane is a well-respected attorney in Arizona who has held high-level positions at important state agencies,” Nicole M. Goodwin and Jeremy D. Zangara, co-managing shareholders of the firm’s Phoenix office, said in a joint statement. “Because of his diligent work ethic, Shane stays informed of federal law and policy developments in the evolving financial services industry so he can better guide clients on innovative legal strategies.”
Before DIFI, Foster served as assistant attorney general and as senior litigation counsel in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, where he also co-led the administration of Arizona’s first-in-the-nation fintech regulatory sandbox. As such, Foster’s practice extends to the use of new technologies in the financial services sector such as blockchain, digital payments, and artificial intelligence, among others.
“With his previous position at a state regulator, Shane brings to the firm invaluable experience and a deep understanding of the regulatory issues our clients face,” said Richard M. Cutshall and William B. Mack, co-chairs of the Financial Regulatory & Compliance Practice. “Our firm has seen a growing need for these legal services, and as such added Hilary R. Sledge-Sarnor in Los Angeles and Tim Dolan and Sierra M. Taylor in London as regulatory-focused attorneys last year.”
Foster also plans to work on matters within the firm’s American Indian Law Practice that intersect with the financial and regulatory sectors. While in law school, Foster served as a law clerk to the Gila River Indian Community’s Tribal General Counsel. He is a member of the Navajo Nation; Foster’s grandfather served as a Navajo Code Talker during World War II, one of a few hundred Navajo military members who used their language as an unbreakable “code” to communicate across enemy lines.
Foster received his J.D. from Cornell Law School and a B.A. from Brigham Young University. He is admitted to practice law in Arizona and New York.
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