David M. Bizar is a partner in the Boston office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Mr. Bizar chairs the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation practice group and represents consumer banks and financial services companies in high-stakes disputes in the courts and before government authorities challenging the legality of their products and services, corporate practices and regulatory adherence. He has defended numerous class actions, government investigations and enforcement proceedings, and individual cases with systemic exposure for national banks and federal thrifts, mortgage lenders and servicers, manufacturer and third party automotive finance companies, credit card issuers, short-term lenders, and large national retailers.

Mr. Bizar is recognized as a preeminent litigator in the field of consumer financial services law. He is a Fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers and Co-Vice Chairs the Litigation and Arbitration Subcommittee of the Consumer Financial Services Committee of the American Bar Association. Financial institutions frequently select Mr. Bizar to litigate to judgment and through appeal important issues of first impression. Among other notable cases, Mr. Bizar obtained a defense verdict in a fast-tracked federal court jury trial for a national bank in a publicized case, in which the bank was accused of instructing its borrowers to stop making their mortgage payments to qualify for a loan modification and of promising them that it would not foreclose while they were being considered. A national lender recently engaged Mr. Bizar to replace its counsel to try a case involving an issue of first impression, nationally, of the propriety of its substitutions of interest rate indexes following successive bank mergers. Mr. Bizar won the trial and is currently handling the appeal. Mr. Bizar settled a nationwide putative class action in Missouri against an automotive manufacturer finance company which had challenged his client’s consumer lease disclosures. Mr. Bizar has represented one of the largest federal savings banks in putative class actions and individual lawsuits throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire challenging the lawfulness of its option ARM mortgage and other products. Mr. Bizar also recently served as lead counsel to a national automotive finance company in a CFPB enforcement proceeding through its successful conclusion in a consent order with the CFPB. He has been quoted extensively in the national media and has spoken to industry groups across the country about litigation and fallout issues related to the current economic crisis and its impact on mortgage lenders and servicers.

Mr. Bizar is a former member of the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG). From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Bizar served on active duty with the 1st Cavalry Division as chief of a legal assistance office and as a prosecutor, and was attached to the 4th Infantry Division as a defense counsel. In 1996, Mr. Bizar deployed with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division during Operation Desert Strike to the Emirate of Kuwait, where he served as the legal counsel to the commander and was awarded The Army Achievement Medal for meritorious service.