Current Employment Position(s)

Shareholder; Chair, Mortgage Banking; Member, Business Litigation Section; Mortgage Banking Group

Year Joined Organization: 1985

Languages

• French

Lawyer Overview

Bob is a shareholder and a former member of the board of directors in the firm of Briggs and Morgan, Professional Association. He is based in our Minneapolis office and is a member of the Business Litigation Section and Chair of the Mortgage Banking Practice Group. Bob practices principally in the areas of:

• Class action defense
• Consumer credit law
• Mortgage banking law
• Real estate finance law

Bob has lectured extensively on class action defense, regulatory compliance, mortgage banking, consumer credit, and real estate finance matters to financial industry trade groups and continuing legal education associations.

Bob has over 25 years of experience representing mortgage banking entities and financial institutions.  Since the late 1980s, Bob has been heavily involved in the defense of class action litigation against the financial services industry, including mortgage bankers, national banks, bank holding companies, thrifts and insurance companies.  During this time he has defended over 250 class actions across the nation.  Recently, the defense of class actions involving RESPA s8 issues occupied a tremendous portion of his time including dozens of cases in State and Federal District Courts as well as Appellate proceedings in the Second, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appel.  Other class actions included in his practice involve challenges to escrow practices, truth in lending cases, force placed hazard insurance, private mortgage insurance, late fees, bankruptcy attorney fees, discharge fees, recording satisfaction and privacy.  Additional litigation experience on behalf of the lending industry includes the representation of clients charged with violating various state and federal privacy laws by State Attorneys General as well as state anti-trust investigations by same.  He has also represented lenders in connection with truth in lending administrative restitution actions, discrimination, CRA and fair lending actions brought by federal banking supervisory agencies.

Bob is the editor of a book entitled Mortgage Lending in Minnesota - A Desktop Reference Guide, and the author of an article on reverse annuity mortgages entitled 'A Mortgage for the 21st Century' published in the May 1990 issue of Mortgage Banking .

He is a Fellow and Regent of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, and is profiled as a biographee in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law, and Who's Who in the World. A former Chairman of the Legal Issues Committee of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Minnesota, Bob is also a member of the Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Committees of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.

Bob is a member of the Banking Law Committee and the Real Estate Financing Committee of the Real Property Section of the American Bar Association, the Sections of Real Property, Business Law, and Litigation of the American Bar Association, as well as the Real Property and Business Law Sections of the Hennepin County and Minnesota State Bar Associations. 

Bob received his B.A. from Northwestern University. He received his law degree cum laude from Tulane University Law School where he was Editor of the Tulane Law Review and The Maritime Lawyer. Bob joined Briggs in 1985.

Areas of Practice

• Class Action Defense
• Mortgage Banking
• Real Estate
• Business Litigation

West Practice Categories

Commercial Banks, Lending & Secured Transactions, Mortgages & Foreclosures, Class Actions -- Plaintiff, Federal Appellate Practice, Litigation & Appeals, Multidistrict Litigation, Commercial Real Estate, Real Estate Law

Bar Admissions

• Minnesota, 1976
• U.S. District Court District of Minnesota, 1976
• U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit, 1993
• U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit, 1997
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1997
• Arizona, 1997
• U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit, 1997
• U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit, 2000
• U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit, 1999
• U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 1999

Professional Associations and Memberships

• American Bar Association, Member, Committee on Banking Law and Real Estate Financing, Section of Real Property and Sections of Business Law and Litigation
• American College of Mortgage Attorneys (Member)
• Hennepin County Bar Association (Member, Sections of Real Property and Business Law)
• Maritime Lawyer (Editor)
• Minnesota State Bar Association (Member, Sections of Real Property and Business Law)
• Mortgage Bankers Association of Minnesota, Chairman, Committee on Legal Issues; Member Committees on Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance
• Wilderness Inquiry Association (Member 1978-1983; Board Member)

Honors and Awards

• Who's Who in America
• Who's Who in American Law
• Who's Who in the World

Classes and Seminars

• Lectures, Financial Industry Trade Groups
• Lectures, CLE Associations

Education

• Tulane Law School, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1976
  J.D., Doctor of Jurisprudence
  Honors: cum laude
  
  Law Review: Editor, Tulane Law Review
• Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1970
  B.A., Bachelor of Arts

Published Works

• Mortgage Lending in Minnesota - A Desktop Reference Guide, Mortgage Bankers Association of Minnesota, 1990
• A Mortgage for the 21st Century, 50 Mortgage Banking 45, May, 1990

Address

2200 IDS Center
80 South 8th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402

Phones

(612) 977-8537 (Direct Dial)

Faxes

(612) 977-8650

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.briggs.com/