Cheryl M. Lott represents corporate clients, banks, mortgage companies and other financial institutions in both state and federal court. Her practice focuses on general business and commercial litigation, lender liability litigation, as well as labor and employment litigation, construction defect litigation, and class action defense. She has significant experience in preparing all aspects of a case for trial or arbitration. Ms. Lott co-chairs the Los Angeles office's litigation department.

Representative litigation matters that Ms. Lott has handled include defending financial institutions against claims asserting aiding and abetting Ponzi schemes or fraud, prosecution of civil bank fraud claims, defending clients in alleged employment discrimination and misclassification related matters, prosecuting trade secret matters on behalf of financial institutions, and prosecuting guarantor collection actions.

Bar Admissions

• California

Education

• UCLA School of Law, J.D., Concentration in Critical Race Studies and Specialization in Corporate Law.
• University of California, Los Angeles, B.A. in Political Science and African-American Studies, with a minor in Chicano Studies

• Aided Financial Institution client in remediating BSA/AML procedures, policies, and practices, close corrective action plans established by a consent order, and created training modules for CDD and EDD
• Successfully tried a matter involving a multi-million dollar guaranty action
• Prosecuted a civil multi-million dollar bank fraud matter and obtained judgment and an attorneys' fees award, and successfully defended the $20 million judgment on appeal
• Successfully defended lender in federal multi-district litigation involving over 250 separate cases
• Successfully defended lender in state court litigation involving repurchase obligation of over 300 securitized loans
• Successfully defend firm clients in discrimination matters
• Successfully defend firm clients in wage and hour class action matters
• Obtained favorable settlement in class action matter involving claims against the firm's client related to alleged misclassification
• Reached a favorable settlement in an EEOC alleged harassment matter
• Successfully defended materials suppliers in construction defect litigation
• Successfully defended a materials supplier in toxic tort/asbestos matters

• Honored with the Justice Cruz Reynoso Community Service Award by the Mexican American Bar Association.
• Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America - 2025
• In 2019, Ms. Lott was recognized as an Emerging Leader at the UCLA Law Awards.

• Treasury's New Bank Secrecy Act Whistleblower Program

  By Cheryl Lott |January 2021

• Congress Makes Sweeping Changes to Money Laundering Enforcement

  By Cheryl Lott |January 2021

• Post-Sale Successor Independent Duty To Warn
• To Evaluate or Not to Evaluate? That is the Question
• Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy Act: Are You in Compliance?
• The Tension Between Privacy and ‘Know Your Customer’
• Congress Makes Sweeping Changes to Money Laundering Enforcement
• US Congress makes sweeping changes to AML enforcement
• New Whistleblower Program May Lead to Surge in Bank Secrecy Act Enforcement
• Treasury's New Bank Secrecy Act Whistleblower Program
• Cheryl Lott, Speaker at the 2016 SAMA Conference
• Cheryl Lott, Speaker at the “30th Annual Lenders and Credit Officers Conference”
• Cheryl M. Lott, Speaker at the California Bankers Association 30th Annual Lenders and Credit Officers Conference
• Cheryl M. Lott and Richard P. Ormond, Speakers, California Bankers Association, “Bank Counsel Seminar”
• Cheryl Lott, Speaker at Cornell Institute for Hospitality Labor and Employment Relations
• Cheryl Lott, Speaker at the UCLA Law Fellows Saturday Academy
• Cheryl M. Lot, Panelist at the Latina Futures Event
• Career Conversations: The Real Scoop on Small Business Funding
• Anti-Money Laundering & Bank Secrecy Act