WASHINGTON — Gwen Baker, an attorney with Venable, LLP, said she enjoyed her work with NAFCU, but really loves diving deeper into credit unions' day-to-day concerns as she does now in the post she has held for one year.

"I loved my work at NAFCU and I loved the trade association side of things but I kind of always wanted to get out there and be in practice. There's only so much that a trade association attorney can do. A trade association attorney can't really practice law so it was just really exciting for me to branch out and expand upon what I was doing there so it's been great. It's everyday, something different. The questions that come through the door often are really challenging and it definitely keeps us on our toes but it's been a lot of fun." She noted that Bank Secrecy Act compliance has been an ongoing concern for credit unions as well as the various Federal Reserve regulations and, of course, NCUA.

However, Baker said, "I think as far as just big picture, I think just the sheer volume of the regulations they have to deal with makes it very challenging to make sure they stay on top of everything and stay in compliance…There's so many different regulatory and legal issues that they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis." At Venable now, she said she deals with matters like a credit union calling up with a member standing in the branch trying to open a trust account, for example, and the credit union is unsure whether it can do that or not.