HANOVER, Md -

At last year's National Automotive Finance Association Non-Prime Auto Financing Conference keynote session, Hudson Cook chairman Tom Hudson broke the ice by stating he could validate how great of a relationship he had with Rick Hackett, who at the time was assistant director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Now the connection between the legal experts is going to become even closer since Hackett will become a partner at Hudson Cook, effective March 1. From his office in Portland, Maine, Hackett will focus on all aspects of state and federal regulation of retail financial products origination and marketing, e-payments, regulation of financial service entities, and lending, deposit and insurance transactions.

And to show how they've been friends for more than 30 years, Hudson told NAF Association Conference attendees about how Hackett arrived at the name of his dog, a tale that made the group collectively chuckle before the pair ventured down a regulatory road of how the CFPB is out to curtail what it sees as discrimination in vehicle financing.

"We welcome Rick to the firm. We think that he adds a dimension to our practice that will improve our ability to serve our clients," Hudson said.

"With his ability to provide insight into the regulatory process and thinking, Rick will be invaluable to our clients," Hudson added.

Hackett announced last June that he was leaving the CFPB after a two-year stint at the newest federal financial regulator.

"I have no hesitation in saying that my work with CFPB has been the most rewarding, most challenging and most physically tasking assignment I have had in 35 years," Hackett said in his farewell message obtained by SubPrime Auto Finance News when he announced he was departing the bureau.

"Of particular importance to me are the relationships I have been privileged to develop with bureau stakeholders, who have taught me critical information about the relationship of government and its stakeholders, the complexity of policy formulation and the importance of frank and transparent exchange of ideas," he continued.

Hackett was the head of the Office of Installment and Liquidity Lending Markets, in the Division of Research, Markets and Regulations at the CFPB. His responsibilities at the bureau included advising all of the regulator's divisions with respect to market information and policy issues in the installment and specialty lending areas, including vehicle finance, student lending and payday lending. 

Since leaving the bureau in August, Hackett continued his policy work as a speaker, teacher and policy consultant, both in Maine and nationally.

Now Hackett begins the next stage of his legal career at Hudson Cook, the firm that's been instrumental in getting the NAF Association's compliance certification program up and running.