Professionals

Elizabeth Ireland

Partner

Overview
Experience
Credentials
Insights & News

Clients in the financial services sector regularly seek out Elizabeth for advice and counseling pertaining to regulatory matters, white collar defense, and high-stakes government/internal investigations. She has defended a wide range of companies in class actions and successfully won cases at all stages of litigation. Throughout her career, Elizabeth has always taken a leadership role in the Charlotte community and the firm.

Elizabeth frequently works with companies and audit committees in connection with internal investigations, regulatory defense, and white collar criminal matters. She has worked on multiple investigations in connection with whistleblower allegations. She also has worked with banking clients on multiple Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement and supervisory actions, and has represented clients in matters against the Department of Justice, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Reserve Bank, Commodities Futures Trading Commission, National Futures Association, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Federal Trade Commission, among other government/regulatory entities. She presents regularly about the topic of attorney-client privilege and has represented companies in connection with unique privilege-related issues.

Elizabeth has experience representing clients in all stages of litigation. She has won multiple motions to dismiss and summary judgment motions in multiple jurisdictions at the state and federal level. She regularly handles class action settlements and has experience with resolving tricky settlement-related issues. Elizabeth has worked extensively on matters with financial services clients covering a range of topics, including mortgage servicing, mortgage origination, foreign exchange, legal order processing, garnishments, credit reporting, and credit card products. When appealed, her litigation victories have regularly been upheld.

Within the food and beverage sector, Elizabeth has represented companies in cases related to product labeling. In particular, she has defended companies in litigation based on the terms “all natural,” “Made in the USA” and the inclusion of “evaporated cane juice” on product labels. Elizabeth worked on the team that successfully defended a major spirits manufacturer and distributor, obtaining victories at the motion to dismiss stage in cases related to the use of the terms “handcrafted” and “handmade.” She has also contributed to cases related to product safety for food industry clients.

Key Matters

Elizabeth frequently works with companies and audit committees on internal investigations, regulatory defense, and white collar criminal matters. She conducted a major internal investigation into whistleblower allegations at a mortgage servicing company. She also has worked with financial services companies on multiple Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement actions, and has worked on matters involving the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Department of Justice, and Federal Trade Commission, among other regulatory entities.

Elizabeth also advises clients in the financial services industry. She successfully obtained victories for a major company in mortgage-related litigation. She has won multiple motions to dismiss and summary judgment motions or helped settled cases challenging mortgage origination and servicing practices in a number of state and federal court actions.

Elizabeth also has experience representing food and beverage companies in cases related to product labeling. In particular, she has defended companies in litigation based on the terms “all natural,” “Made in the USA” and the inclusion of “evaporated cane juice” on product labels. She has defended pet food companies in labeling litigation. Elizabeth has conducted extensive research on the use of certain terms such as “free of artificial ingredients,” “preservative free,” and “clean” related to proposed menu items for a major quick-serve restaurant chain, and she has reviewed the impact of terms such as “fresh,” “trans fat,” “no sugar added,” “antioxidants,” “no preservatives,” “omega 3,” and “healthy” on product labels. Elizabeth worked on the team that successfully defended a major spirits manufacturer and distributor, obtaining victories at the motion to dismiss stage in cases related to the use of the terms “handcrafted” and “handmade.” She has also worked on cases related to product safety for food industry clients, assisting with the settlement case with breach of warranty, products liability, and negligence claims related to pizza allegedly contaminated with hepatitis. One of Elizabeth’s case victories led to the dismissal with prejudice of a case related to allegations about the use of trans fats and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in popcorn products.