William P. Mayer

Bill Mayer is a partner of the firm and a member of Goodwin’s Financial Industry practice. He serves as corporate and regulatory counsel for financial institutions and financial institution holding companies, ranging from global and larger U.S. banking organizations to regional and community banks. As outside general counsel, he regularly advises banking organizations and their boards of directors on a broad array of corporate, regulatory, governance and transactional matters. Mr. Mayer also has participated in missions for USAID, the World Bank and the IMF to address financial sector issues in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.

A former chair of Goodwin’s Pro Bono Committee for 10 years, Mr. Mayer maintains an active pro bono practice, serving as chairman of the board of KickStart International, a nonprofit devoted to designing and marketing appropriate technology to African farmers, and chairman of the board of RefugePoint, a nonprofit organization founded to protect and develop solutions for refugees worldwide. He is also on the board of The Chocorua Lake (NH) Conservancy. In addition, Mr. Mayer serves as counsel and board advisor to a number of nonprofit organizations.

Mr. Mayer handles a wide variety of transactions for Goodwin’s banking and financial services clients, including mergers, acquisitions, public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, stock conversions, bank and holding company formations, and other reorganizations of financial institutions and holding companies. He also regularly advises foreign and U.S. clients on bank regulatory matters involving the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Comptroller of the Currency, and other state and federal agencies.

Over the past several years, Mr. Mayer has advised a wide range of financial institution clients on capital and other compliance matters arising under the Dodd-Frank Act, the Basel Accords and other regulations, and has counseled institutional and other investors with respect to transactions involving banks and bank holding companies. Mr. Mayer also advises other business clients, nonprofits and individuals on a wide range of corporate, corporate governance and other legal matters.

With more than 40 years’ experience in the financial services industry, Mr. Mayer has been repeatedly listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, where clients and peers have lauded him for being “very effective at dealing with a board or with executive management” and noting that he “resolves problems in a sensible way and takes a balanced approach.”