A founding partner of AVILA, Patricia M. Hernandez focuses on corporate and financial services, particularly in counseling businesses, including banks and financial services companies, in varied legal issues. Ms. Hernandez has extensive experience in representing domestic and international financial institutions and other financial businesses in all aspects of regulatory, compliance, lending, mergers and acquisitions, and other transactional matters.

Ms. Hernandez regularly represents clients before the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation and other regulatory agencies and assists banks in negotiating and complying with enforcement actions. She has extensive knowledge in privacy and compliance with the requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and has achieved specific knowledge in lending transactions, including asset-backed, trade-finance, factoring and Ex-Im Bank financing. She also has extensive practice in counseling U.S. and foreign clients on the effects of Regulations of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regarding Cuba and other embargoes. For the last three years, Ms. Hernandez has served as General Counsel to the Florida International Bankers Association. She also serves on the Banking Law Advisory Panel for the ALI-CLE of the American Law Institute, as well as a Board Member of the South Florida Banking Institute.

Ms. Hernandez has exceptional experience in other general corporate matters, including acquisitions, formation of entities and review and preparation of contracts for all types of transactions. She regularly counsels foreign businesses who wish to launch their products and services in the U.S.

PRACTICE AREAS

• Financial Services
• Corporate, Mergers and Acquisitions
• Commercial Financing Transactions
• Lending
• International and Cross-Border Transactions
• Money Services Businesses
• Banking & Finance