[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 16, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E504-E505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     A TRIBUTE TO YOLANDE NICHOLSON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 16, 2011

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the achievements of 
Yolande Nicholson.
  Ms. Nicholson has been a member of the New York State Bar for more 
than 20 years. She earned her J.D. from Columbia University School of 
Law in 1989. She began her legal career practicing as a corporate 
finance attorney in the capital markets group at Cleary, Gottlieb, 
Steen & Hamilton, the preeminent international law firm.
  As a young lawyer, Ms. Nicholson had the opportunity to work with 
multinational corporations, international financial institutions, 
sovereign governments and their agencies, as well as domestic 
corporations and financial institutions. At Cleary, she developed her 
craft as a securities lawyer. From 1997 to 2003,

[[Page E505]]

Ms. Nicholson served as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at 
The Chase Manhattan Bank. In 2003, as an Executive on Loan from 
JPMorgan, she began working with Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration 
Corporation (BSRC) in Brooklyn to restructure and reposition the 
corporation's anchor commercial real estate and public housing assets. 
She subsequently served in the position of Executive Vice President and 
General Counsel at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. In 2006, 
Ms. Nicholson returned to Wall Street practice and corporate finance as 
a senior attorney in the financial products group at Clifford Chance, 
the leading international finance law firm.
  On October 1, 2010, Ms. Nicholson launched her private practice, as 
principal of Yolande I. Nicholson P.C., specializing in foreclosure 
prevention, litigation and defense. Ms. Nicholson is the author of a 
White Paper: ``Proposal to Appropriate Funding Available under the 
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (``EESA'') in Keeping with The 
Troubled Asset Relief Program (``TARP'') to Stabilize Hardest-Hit 
Communities, Support Selected Homeowner Families and Achieve 
Quantifiable Returns on Investment for Taxpayers and Main Street 
Communities'' (copyright July 2010). With the White Paper, she lends 
her knowledge and voice to the proposals aimed at precluding 
foreclosure sales against homeowners who are hardest hit by high 
unemployment, predatory lending and mortgage fraud.
  Ms. Nicholson was born in Grenada, W.I., into an extended family of 
ever-aspiring parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles that included 
notable school principals, teachers, nurses, musicians and 
entrepreneurs. She credits her father for teaching her and her siblings 
the value of community activism; her mother for teaching them the value 
of community service; and both for serving as daily examples of grace 
and dignity. She aims to continue applying her law license, experience 
and practice in a manner that is responsible and thoughtful when 
delivering advice and representation to clients.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing Yolande 
Nicholson.

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