Leah Kuo Email and Phone Number

Supervisor of the public policy team at a global law firm providing a full range of regulatory, enforcement, litigation, and transactional services.· Research banking and financial services topics with a focus on consumer financial issues. Serve as the firm’s main point of contact for monitoring and analyzing local, state, and federal banking laws and regulations. · Sectors include federal and state consumer financial laws, regulations, and enforcement actions; congressional investigations; legislative and regulatory history; compliance and risk management; privacy/cyber-risk and data security; licensing and bank regulatory trends; fintech developments; digital assets; financial sanctions; mortgage lending and servicing; credit cards, payments systems, and digital commerce; and student lending.· Primary author and contributor to all content published in the firm’s weekly newsletter (https://buckleyfirm.com/infobytes) covering current financial services developments. · Responsible for synthesizing litigation at the state and federal level covering a wide breadth of consumer financial services topics leading to the creation of daily and weekly publications.· Proficient in Microsoft Office, Marketo, PACER, LexisNexis, WestLaw, SEC/EDGAR, and various research platforms.

Monitored, researched, and analyzed federal and state legislative, regulatory, enforcement, political, and judicial developments impacting financial services institutions.• Sectors included mortgage lending and servicing, consumer financial activities, retail banking, payments systems and digital commerce, privacy/cyber-risk and privacy, student loan servicing, and financial crimes.• Assisted public policy manager in drafting and editing firm newsletters and releases reporting on relevant news, legal developments, and regulatory and legislative actions affecting consumer financial service providers, with a focus on Federal bank regulators.

Team lead for complex enforcement and litigation matters. Assisted with numerous CFPB and NYDFS investigations, fair lending risk assessments, readiness reviews, and bank examinations.

Consultant to development director for a diverse range of specialty food projects for established market leaders and small/startup businesses. · Developed strategies for new specialty food products, enhanced existing product lines, and developed formulas for Green Giant. · Acted as a liaison between R&D, suppliers, and co-manufacturers to assess capabilities and needs.

Founder, president, and co-owner of an innovative gourmet food company specializing in all-natural cookies. Sales channels included online, retail, and direct-to-consumer.· CookieZen’s two retail lines, Cookies & Corks and CookieZen Bites, were sold nationally at many specialty food stores, wineries, Hallmark, Whole Foods, and several on-line retailers including Amazon and Wine.com. · Led media relations initiatives with industry and mainstream print media, including USA Today, Specialty Food Magazine, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Working Mother, The Washington Post, Washingtonian and many others. Cookies & Corks was also featured on local NBC and Fox affiliates as well as “The Today Show.” · Oversaw business operations and licenses, order processing, accounts payable/receivable, payroll and tax preparation, recipe formulation, ingredient research and sourcing, manufacturing, and special event planning.· Led decisions on all legal matters and brand strategy including sales, marketing, online presence, packaging design, trade shows, product fulfillment, consultant training, public relations, budgeting, and donations.

Project lead on complex litigation cases supervising up to ten legal assistants at a time based in multiple offices. Leadership included cases for the SEC, the DOJ, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as private sector cases. Responsible for team evaluations and assisted with the legal assistant mentorship and training program.

Supported a major multi-billion-dollar federal antitrust litigation team while simultaneously contributing on other major cases. Assisted firm attorneys in a direct lobbying campaign to Congress on behalf of the nation’s leading broadband provider on major internet access legislation.

Key member of a strategic team focusing on adoption research and deinstitutionalization programs, Congressional adoption initiatives, and the placement of older Russian and Kazakh orphans in American families. • Assisted with domestic foster care/adoption research projects and proposals including the 2001 Kidsave/Congressional Coalition on Adoption Briefing, a presentation for the Russian Federation Smolensk Region’s Ministry of Education on the history and policies of the U.S. foster care system, national cause-related marketing strategies for deinstitutionalizing programs such as the Secure Futures Center in Russia, as well as legislative education programs stemming from the 2001 Congressional briefing.• Responsible for the placement of older Russian and Kazakh orphans participating in the 2001 Summer Miracles Program into adoptive families.• Responsible for designing program materials, coordinating travel logistics, and media relations.• Simultaneously worked on health-related marketing communications programs for T. Baugh and Company by conducting market research using secondary data and qualitative research methods. Clients included the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, The Red Cross, and Garrett Yu Hussein/Kaiser Family Foundation.

Housing Coordinator for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Washington, D.C.• Managed all hotel budget expenditures for 2000 Folklife Festival.• Liaison between festival program staff and hotel's event planning staff.• Developed menus emphasizing ethnic, religious, and cross-cultural culinary considerations. • Coordinated housing logistics for over 200 participants and family members.• Resident supervisor at the hotel in order to monitor considerations towards the ethnic and cultural facets of participants from the El Rio Grande region of North American and Tibetan communities in exile.