Eric Fischer, a retired partner in Goodwin’s Financial Institutions Group, focuses on bank regulatory matters, including issues concerning bank corporate governance, director and officer liability, mergers and acquisitions of financial institutions, the bank regulatory process, banking operations and security matters, bank risk management and safety, soundness and examination matters, and financial institution formation and reorganization transactions.
Mr. Fischer is a recognized leader in his field, having previously served as chair of the ABA’s Banking Law Committee’s Task Force on Bank Directors and chair of the Banking and Financial Services Law Committee of the Boston Bar Association. He is annually recognized in the Banking & Finance: Corporate & Regulatory category by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and is a recipient of the “Distinguished Legal Scholar Award,” presented jointly by the Boston Bar Association and the Boston University School of Law.
Professional Activities
Mr. Fischer has served as chair of the American Bar Association’s Banking Law Committee’s Task Force on Bank Directors and of its Subcommittee on Community Banks. He is a former chair of the Banking and Financial Services Law Committee of the Boston Bar Association.
Mr. Fischer currently serves on the board of advisors of the Boston University Center for Finance, Law & Policy and formerly served on the board of advisors of the LL.M. Program for Banking and Financial Law Studies at the Boston University School of Law.
Professional Experience
Before joining Goodwin in 2000, Mr. Fischer served as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of UST Corp., a Boston-based bank holding company, and its banking subsidiaries, USTrust of Boston and United States Trust Company of Boston. He was an associate at the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson in New York from 1971 to 1975 and served as assistant general counsel and assistant secretary of the board of directors at Bank of Boston Corporation from 1976 until he joined UST Corp. in 1986.
From 1984 until 2005, Mr. Fischer taught a course concerning the corporate governance of financial institutions and the duties and liabilities of directors and officers for Boston University School of Law's LL.M. Program.
Recognition
Mr. Fischer has been selected for inclusion by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the Banking & Finance: Corporate & Regulatory category and by Best Lawyers in the Financial Services Regulation Law and the Banking and Finance Law categories. The 21st edition of U.S. News-Best Lawyers named Mr. Fischer “Lawyer of the Year” for 2015 Boston Banking and Finance Law, a distinguished recognition based on a survey of legal peers in his community and practice area. He has also been recognized as a Massachusetts “Super Lawyer," as published in Boston Magazine.
In 1999, Mr. Fischer was awarded the “Distinguished Legal Scholar Award,” presented jointly by the Boston Bar Association and the Morin Center at Boston University School of Law. Mr. Fischer’s biography has been included under the categories of legal educator and lawyer in Who’s Who in America since 1985 and Who’s Who in the World since 1998.
Representative Matters
Mr. Fischer has served as bank regulatory counsel on behalf of:
- Manulife Asset Management in its establishment of a nondepository trust company
- Eastern Bank Corporation in its acquisition of Campello Bancorp, parent company of The Community Bank
- Boston Trust & Investment Management Company in ongoing regulatory matters
- Boston Private Bank on the consolidation and internal reorganization of its bank subsidiaries
- State Street Bank and Trust Company with respect to Massachusetts bank regulatory matters
Credentials
Education
LLM1982
Boston University School of Law
JD1971
Stanford Law School
Masters of Business Admin1971
Stanford University Graduate School of Business
BA1967
University of Pennsylvania
Admissions
Bars
- Massachusetts
- New York
Publications
Mr. Fischer is a frequent lecturer on, and serves as an expert with respect to, topics concerning bank directors and banking regulation. He has published articles concerning a broad range of bank regulatory and corporate governance topics in a number of law reviews, including the Stanford Journal of International Law, the Banking Law Journal, the Journal of Payment Systems Law, the Boston University International Law Journal and Banking & Finance Law Review.
Mr. Fischer has served as chair of the Annual Banking Seminar organized by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and has participated in numerous panels sponsored by the Massachusetts Bankers Association. From 1993 to 2011, he served as editor of the chapter concerning financial institution mergers and acquisitions in A.S. Pratt & Sons' Banking and Lending Institution Forms (with Commentary and Checklists). Mr. Fischer has also chaired and participated on numerous occasions in the Annual Financial Services Seminar jointly presented by the Boston Bar Association and Boston University School of Law. He also serves as a co-editor of Goodwin's Financial Services Alert.
At Stanford Law School, Mr. Fischer was the editor-in-chief of the Stanford Journal of International Law.