The trio of leaders of Ballard Spahr’s mortgage banking group is about to be reduced to a duo, as Michael Waldron is set to leave the firm this week.
Waldron will leave Ballard Spahr on Thursday and become Chief Compliance Officer at Bayview Loan Servicing, beginning Friday.
Waldron has been with Ballard Spahr since late 2011, when he left the mortgage banking unit of Patton Boggs with Richard Andreano Jr. and John Socknat to form the mortgage banking group at Ballard Spahr.
“Acquiring this group of superbly talented lawyers fills out our consumer financial services group in an important way by adding attorneys whose focus is on residential mortgage regulatory work — a need we’ve been aware of for some time,” Ballard chairman Mark Stewart said at the time. “We’re confident that these lawyers will be a perfect complement to our existing practice."
Since then, Waldron has been a frequent contributor to HousingWire, sharing his expertise in many different areas.
Waldron himself predicted his move to Bayview last year, albeit unknowingly, when he said that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's qualified mortgage rule and servicing standards will lead to an increase in the number of compliance personnel that mortgage lending and servicing companies will need to survive and thrive.
"You are going to see these hires made in legal departments and compliance departments,” Waldron said in January 2013.
“It's new in that the rules are new, but the concepts are not at all new. In reality, you need a certain base level of knowledge on how the industry works to truly digest all of these new rules and advise on how they should be implemented or operationalized."
Now Waldron is following in his own predicted footsteps with the move to Bayview.
Andreano and Socknat will continue to lead Ballard Spahr’s mortgage banking group.
"Michael has, of course, been an integral part of the building and growth of the Mortgage Banking Group at Ballard Spahr and through his considerable effort and skill has helped realize the goal that Rich Andreano, Michael and I set out to accomplish when we joined Ballard Spahr – building a preeminent mortgage banking practice on the industry's premier consumer financial services platform,” Socknat told HousingWire.
“We look forward to continuing our relationship with Michael as he transitions to his new roles at Bayview, confident that he knows full well the depth and breadth of talent in Ballard Spahr's Mortgage Banking Group and Consumer Financial Services Group more broadly,” Socknat added. “We are equally confident that Bayview will reap the benefits of Michael's many talents and his commitment to the mortgage banking industry."
