Overview
Thomas Brown is a senior counsel at Paul Hastings. J.P. Morgan has called him “fintech’s most famous legal mind.” Over three decades, he has represented nearly every major company in the space, as well as their founders and investors.
This represents his second stint with the firm. Prior to rejoining, Thomas was a partner with and general counsel of NYCA, a leading venture capital firm focused on connecting innovative companies to the global financial system. While previously with Paul Hastings, Thomas' practice was focused primarily on competition law and legal issues affecting the financial services industry. He is a past chair of the firm’s Competition practice and co-chair of the firm’s Fintech practice. In addition to strategically advising payment systems and financial services clients across a broad spectrum of regulatory issues, he has litigated notable antitrust cases, including class actions.
Prior to first joining Paul Hastings, Thomas had served as vice president, senior counsel at Visa U.S.A. Inc. There, he was responsible for managing the aftermath of the settlement in In re Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation, including the dozens of consumer class actions that were filed following the settlement. He was also deeply involved in the company’s transformation from a co-op to a shareholder-owned company.
He writes and speaks frequently.
Accolades
- Chambers Band 2, FinTech Legal (2019 & 2020)
- The Legal 500, Antitrust - Merger Control (2021)
- The Legal 500, Antitrust - Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Defense (2021)
- The Legal 500, Leading Lawyer for Media, Technology, and Telecoms - Fintech (2021)
Education
- University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 1995
- Columbia University, A.B., 1992
Representations
- Upstart, in obtaining the first ever no action letter from the CFBP regarding the company’s underwriting model and the use of non-traditional signals of credit quality.
- eBay, in its defeat of a putative class action in which plaintiffs claimed that eBay’s acquisition of PayPal enabled the company to charge supra-competitive fees.
- Visa U.S.A. Inc., member of the trial team that handled the defense of the then largest civil antitrust class action in U.S. history, In re Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation.
Engagement & Publications
- Thomas Brown and Dae Ho Lee, “Unfair” Practices in the Financial Services Industry: The New Boss is the same as the Old Boss, 81 Antitrust L. J. 981 (2017)
- Thomas Brown and Michael Wise, S. Merger Control in the High-Technology Sector, The Merger Control Review 8th (Sep. 2017)
- Author, PAEs and Antitrust—A Brief Introduction, 79 Antitrust L. J. 395 (2014)
- Co-Author with Sam Zun, Cascades Computer Innovation, LLC v. RPX Corporation—Can’t We At Least Agree that There’s No Per Se Claim Here? Antitrust Magazine 36 (Summer 2013)
- Author, Keeping Electronic Money Valuable: The Future of Payments and the Role of Public Authorities (2009)
Involvement
- Member, American Law Institute
- Senior Editor, Antitrust Law Developments