How money and data move
Authorization, clearing, settlement and funding; who touches a transaction, what each party does, and what each is paid.
For litigators and corporate counsel
Payments expertise for counsel
When a dispute turns on how payments actually work, counsel need someone who has built and run the systems, not someone who has read about them. I advise litigators and corporate counsel on payment processing, acquiring and the software that connects them.
What I help counsel with
Five places a payments dispute usually turns.
Acquiring economics
How processing is priced and sold: interchange and markup, residuals, agent and ISO (independent sales organization) compensation, and how contracts pay out over time. I have worked the agent and ISO side of acquiring as well as the platform side.
Gateways, tokens and integration
How gateways, processors and software platforms connect; how card data is stored, tokenized and moved; what is industry standard and what is specific to one vendor.
Risk, underwriting and compliance practice
How merchants are onboarded and monitored, and what PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), EMV (chip-card standard) and card-brand programs expect of a reasonable operator. I have been through those certification audits from the operator's side.
How integrations really go
How long software vendors take to integrate payments, why, and what documentation and support are realistic.
How I work
Through counsel, with conflicts cleared first.
- Engagements come through counsel, who set the terms, including privilege.
- I start in an advisory role. Scope and deliverables are set with counsel; written work product only when asked.
- I run a conflicts check before every engagement, and I do not take engagements adverse to a party in the same matter.
- I do not give legal opinions or opine outside payments practice.
Background
Built and run, not read about.
26 years in payments: payment gateways and tokenization, a multi-acquirer, multi-processor platform, underwriting, and the ISO and agent channel. I have led technology and product at a merchant acquirer and at payments platform companies. A detailed curriculum vitae (CV) is available to counsel on request, subject to a conflicts check.
Next step
If a matter turns on how payments work, send a two-line description of the issue and the forum through the contact page or by email at guillermo@guillermolizasoain.com. Please do not send privileged or confidential material until conflicts are cleared and an engagement agreement is signed.