Richard P. Eckman
Richard P. Eckman is a partner in the Wilmington office of Pepper Hamilton LLP. He is a finance and transactional lawyer and chairs the firm’s Financial Services Practice Group, which includes over 40 lawyers practicing in the areas of investment management, commercial and consumer financial services, public finance and affordable housing.
Mr. Eckman’s transactional practice focuses on representing financial institutions, corporations and other entities in complex financing transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, asset securitizations and other lending and venture transactions. He also has represented many startup technology growth companies in the telecommunications, software, financial services, Internet and biotechnology industries. He is a member of the firm’s Technology Committee which advises the firm on its own technology issues.
As a result of his background in banking, Mr. Eckman has in depth experience and knowledge of financial services companies. He represents many financial institutions and lenders in a broad array of areas, including commercial lending, consumer finance, mortgage banking, insurance, trust matters, outsourcing and operational issues. He also represents a number of institutional trustees in Delaware business trust transactions.
Mr. Eckman was raised in Wilmington and received his A.B. from Hamilton College, his J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America and his LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center. Active in politics early in his career, he was campaign manager for Pete duPont’s 1976 successful gubernatorial campaign and was legislative counsel in the Washington office of Congressman Thomas B. Evans, Jr. (R Delaware) from 1977-1979. He also was one of the drafters of Delaware’s landmark Financial Center Development Act that attracted over 25 financial institutions to Delaware, many of whom he represents. He is admitted to the bars of Delaware and the District of Columbia. He was chairman of the Commercial Law Section of the Delaware Bar Association from 1989-1991 and of its Banking Law Committee from 1984-1992.
He has been counsel to the Bank of Delaware, now PNC Bank; was a founder of and vice president and general counsel for The Chase Manhattan Bank (USA), N.A.; and was a director and secretary of FCC National Bank, the national bank subsidiary of Bank One Corporation now part of JPMorgan Chase, headquartered in Wilmington. Mr. Eckman is a fellow in and former regent of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers and a member of the Lawyers Committee of the Consumer Bankers Association. He is also an adjunct professor at the Villanova University School of Law where he teaches financial institution law. He is active in and held leadership positions on the Consumer Financial Services Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and currently serves as editor-in-chief of its e-newsletter.
Mr. Eckman was a founder and president of the Delaware Entrepreneurs’ Forum. He is a member of the board of directors of the Delaware Innovation Fund, a nonprofit seed and preseed venture capital fund, and is chairman of the board of Early Stage East, Inc., a nonprofit that sponsors venture fairs in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Mr. Eckman is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Payment Systems Law.
Education
A.B. 1973 Hamilton College
J.D. 1977 Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America
LL.M. 1980 Georgetown University Law Center
Bar Admissions
Admitted to practice in Delaware and District of Columbia
