Ashley Pavel is a skilled litigator who represents financial services providers in their most high-stakes matters. Ashley is experienced in litigation, including class actions and appeals, mass arbitration, and regulatory enforcement actions. Ashley thrives in fast-paced, high-stakes matters.
Ashley’s clients include financial services providers such as national banks, lenders, and mortgage servicers. Ashley also represented the Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority in connection with Puerto Rico’s historic Title III restructurings and multiple related adversary proceedings.
Ashley has litigation and compliance counseling experience under federal consumer protection statutes including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). and the consumer-protection statues of numerous states, including California Business & Profession Code Section 17200. Ashley also has experience in state privacy statutes, including the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Ashley also has experience representing and counseling financial services providers in matters concerning anti-discrimination statutes, including the Fair Housing Act (FHA), the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
Ashley also has experience in False Claims Act litigation and in regulatory matters before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Trade Commission, and state regulators and attorneys general.
Ashley believes that effective advocacy requires cultivating a deep understanding of her clients’ business operations and objectives.
Ashley also maintains a robust pro bono practice, including assisting multiple clients in obtaining U-Visas, representing a homeless advocacy organization challenging local zoning restrictions, and serving as co-counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in litigation challenging a discriminatory congressional district map. Ashley is also co-chair of O’Melveny’s First Generation Network.
- Representing a nationally chartered bank in a class action asserting consumer fraud claims in connection with a COVID-19 relief program
- Represented multiple bank and non-bank mortgage servicers in qui tam cases relating to loan modification and other loss mitigation programs
- Represented multiple clients in connection with regulatory inquiries and negotiating consent orders with the FTC, CFPB, and state attorneys general
- Represented multiple clients in connection with mass arbitration threats
- Obtained dismissal with prejudice of age-related discrimination claims in putative class action against a large bank in connection with fee waivers for student customers and secured affirmance of the decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Representing the Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority in connection with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s restructuring under Title III of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) in numerous contested matters and adversary proceedings
- Obtained dismissal with prejudice of RICO and fraud claims against mortgage servicer challenging assessment of property inspection fees and secured affirmance of the decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Obtained dismissal with prejudice of claims against a federal savings bank alleging unfair practices in connection with lender placed flood insurance
- Represented a large national bank in a series of state and federal fair lending challenges brought by the City of Los Angeles
- Represented multiple mortgage servicers in putative class actions relating to loan modification practices
- Advised mortgage servicers regarding compliance with OCC, OTS, and CFPB consent orders
- Secured entry of an injunction against a municipality on behalf of a pro bono client to remedy the municipality's non-compliance with a state law requiring designation of zones for potential development of homeless shelters
Languages
- French
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- California
Court Admissions
- US Court of Appeals, First Circuit
- US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- US Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
- US District Court, Central District of California
- US District Court, Eastern District of California
- US District Court, Northern District of California
- US District Court, Southern District of California
- US District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Education
- University of California at Berkeley, J.D.; Senior Articles Editor, Berkeley Technology Law Journal; Staff Member, California Law Review; Prosser Prize, Jurisprudence Award, and Aldo J. Test Writing Award
- University of California at Santa Barbara, B.A., Law and Society, Psychology, and French: Highest Honors; Phi Beta Kappa
Professional Activities
Externships
- Honorable John Noonan, US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Author
- “Robust Causality and Cautionary Standards: Why the Inclusive Communities Decision, Despite Upholding Disparate-Impact Liability, Establishes New Protections for Defendants,” The Banking Law Journal, co-authored with Elizabeth McKeen and Bimal Patel (November 2015)
- “The Latest Standing to Foreclose Challenges at Odds with UCC Article III,” 45 U.C.C. L.J 321, co-authored with Elizabeth McKeen and Danielle Oakley (May 2014)
- “The Use of Eminent Domain To Write Down Mortgage Notes,” Westlaw Journal Securities Litigation & Regulation, co-authored with Elizabeth McKeen and Danielle Oakley (December 2012)