Stites & Harbison, PLLC

Rick Vance's practice focuses on all aspects of residential mortgage finance, including compliance, licensing and litigation. He is the Kentucky state editor for the web-based legal journal HouseLaw.

A respected authority on the Uniform Commercial Code, Rick served on Kentucky's Revised Article 9 Drafting Committee. He also advises companies on potential antitrust issues arising from mergers, distribution or trade association activity.

Recent Assignments

• Successfully defended the constitutionality of the Georgia foreclosure rescission statute.  JIG Real Estate v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., 2011 Ga. LEXIS 546 (Ga. July 5, 2011)
• Successfully represented a national mortgage loan company before the Kentucky Supreme Court in challenging bar association rules preventing title companies from conducting real estate closings. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. v. Ky. Bar Association, 113 S.W.3d 105 (Ky. 2003)
• Successfully defended secondary mortgage market transaction against bankruptcy trustee. Rogan v. Bank One, 457 F.3d 561 (6th Cir. 2006)

Recent Speaking Engagements and Publications

• "Kentucky banks must reassess notary procedures," Stites & Harbison Client Alert, August 2, 2011
• "Kentucky Court reverses $10 million lender liability verdict," Stites & Harbison Client Alert, February 9, 2011
• Lenders and Mortgage Holders saved by K.R.S. 382.270; Bankruptcy Appellate Panel upholds the validity of a mortgage with alleged notary defects," Stites & Harbison Client Alert, November 23, 2009
• "Kentucky Attorney General eases recording requirements on mortgage modifications," Stites & Harbison Client Alert, April 6, 2009
• "RESPA Litigation Developments," Mid-South Commercial Law Institute, Nashville, Tenn., December 2008
• "Mortgage Lending Variations in the Bluegrass Nation: Kentucky Enacts Sweeping Mortgage Lending Bill," Consumer Finance Law Quarterly Report, Vol. 62, Nos. 1-2, Spring-Summer 2008
• "Complying with the Tennessee Home Loan Protection Act," Consumer Finance Law Quarterly Report, Vol. 61, No. 4, Winter 2008
• "Galloping Preemption: Developments in Banking Law," University of Kentucky College of Law Conference of Financial Institutions Law, April 2006
• "Mortgage Loan Companies and Mortgage Loan Brokers," a chapter in Kentucky Real Estate Law and Practice, University of Kentucky Monograph Series (3d ed. 2006)
• "Kentucky's Unique Guaranty Statute," Consumer Finance Law Quarterly Report, Summer 2005
• "Kentucky's New Predatory Lending Law," Consumer Finance Law Quarterly Report, Fall 2004
• "Condemnation and Eminent Domain in Kentucky," University of Kentucky Monograph Series, 2003

Before Stites & Harbison

Rick began his career as a consumer protection investigator with the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.

More than Stites & Harbison

Rick was elected to the Governing Committee of the Conference on Consumer Finance Law in 2011.  A novice carpenter and an activist for affordable housing, Rick has built houses with Habitat for Humanity across the United States, as well as in Hungary, the Philippines and Mexico. He is the former President and current pro bono counsel for Kentucky Habitat for Humanity and serves on the Global Leadership Council of Habitat for Humanity International.

Besides Stites & Harbison

Rick likes outdoor activities such as backpacking and canoeing. He has led the Louisville office's softball team for 20 years.