Deborah Hayes is a member of Womble Bond Dickinson’s GCSolutions team, which provides affordable on-demand, scalable legal services to corporate law departments and small and medium companies. Deborah is a business-minded legal professional with over 30 years of experience representing financial services companies, both in-house and in private practice.
Deborah has extensive experience managing transactional, regulatory, compliance and litigation matters for financial services companies. She has represented institutional investors in negotiation and documentation of new transactions and restructurings domestically and internationally across a wide range of industries. She has also represented banks and other financial institutions, as well as corporate borrowers, in secured and unsecured lending transactions. Deborah brings value by helping clients develop and implement commercial, solutions-oriented approaches to both routine and complex legal matters.
Publications & Presentations
- Comment, “Corporate Director Conflicts of Interest,” 53 Tennessee Law Review 799.
- Assistant Editor and Contributing Author, “Lender's Counsel,” a newsletter of national circulation to attorneys and other professionals in the finance industry.
- Author, “Classification of Market Participants Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: ‘Who Are You?’” (Westlaw Business Currents 2011).
- Co-chair, American College of Investment Counsel Annual Meeting and Education Conference, New York, NY (October 2017).
- Guest Lecturer, “Special Topics in Education Law,” Davis & Elkins College (2001).
- Panelist, “American College of Investment Counsel Education Forum” (2014).
- Panelist, “Dodd-Frank for Derivatives End Users: Implications and Go Forward Strategies for Companies from Airlines to Pipelines” (Thomson Reuters, April 2011).
- Panelist, “Dodd-Frank for Derivatives End-Users: Will Your Enterprise be Ready?” (Celesq Attorneys Education Center, June 2011).
- Panelist, “What Women (In-House Counsel) Want,” ABA Annual Meeting (Summer 2007).
- Panelist, “Alternative Work Arrangements in the Legal Profession,” University of Tennessee Law Women (Spring 1998).
- Presenter, “Tennessee Commercial Law,” Nashville Bar Association (Spring 1994, 1995, 1996).
- Instructor, Banking Law, American Institute of Banking (Fall 1993).
- Presenter, “Lender Liability and Environmental Law,” Nashville Bar Association (Spring 1991).
- Panelist, “Toward Higher Retention of Female Associates in the Legal Profession,” American Association of Legal Administrators (Spring 1991).
- Numerous additional lectures and in-house and client seminars on topics including corporate finance, healthcare law, environmental law, professional ethics, recruiting and retention of women in the profession, and alternative work arrangements.
Professional & Civic Engagement
- Member, Nashville Bar Association Drafting Committee for Tennessee Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act
- Fellow, American College of Investment Counsel
- Charter Member, Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk and Compliance Partner Advisory Board
- Judicial Clerk, United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
