Francesca Castagnola is senior managing director of the Juris Banking Group at Western Alliance Bank.
A banking visionary in providing services to the legal industry, Ms. Castagnola has built – and leads – expert teams that provide full-service banking solutions to meet the needs of law firms, claims administrators and other key players in the legal ecosystem. She is also a founding officer of the Bank’s San Diego Division. The legal industry is at an inflection point. Ms. Castagnola is at the vanguard of these changes, leveraging her 35 years of banking experience to advise law firms and other legal service providers as they adapt to emerging technologies and services.
Ms. Castagnola served as the architect of, and now leads, the Bank’s national Juris Banking Group, which includes multiple lines of business that serve the legal community. Those include Settlement Services for law firms, claims administrators and others managing class action, mass tort and bankruptcy settlements, and the Bank’s bankruptcy offering.
In response to endemic challenges in the class action payment process, Ms. Castagnola spearheaded the Bank’s 2022 acquisition of Digital Disbursements, the leading digital payments platform for the class action industry and in 2023 launched the Bank’s NewLaw Banking function to serve innovative law firms, alternative legal service providers and legal technology companies. The group’s depository and lending solutions are designed for firms seeking high-touch personal service combined with technology platforms that help to streamline operations.
Ms. Castagnola is also a thought leader and develops a number of premier research reports and events that are relied upon by the legal community, such as a first-of-its-kind Rule 23 Amendments Research Report in 2020, followed by a groundbreaking research report in 2021 centering on the complex issues and nuanced perspectives of cy pres, objectors and quick-pay, as well as the annual “Digital Payments in Class Actions and Mass Torts” report.
Ms. Castagnola and her team also launched one of the most respected annual conferences in the mass tort and class action space, the Western Alliance Bank Class Action Law Forum™, in 2019, which is held in collaboration with University of San Diego School of Law. As Founder and Steering Committee member, she is dedicated to bringing together top industry experts from the plaintiffs’ bar, defense bar, judiciary and legal service providers to share their expertise and insights on leading industry trends and practices.
A frequent speaker and writer, some of Ms. Castagnola’s published articles and collaborations with industry leaders include:
Transparency and Accountability are Paramount in Class Action
The Age of Mega Filings: Four Post-Settlement Considerations for the Care and Safety of Funds
Five Things Plaintiffs’ Counsel Should Know about the Settlement-Distribution Process
Ms. Castagnola serves on Western Alliance Bank’s Opportunity Council, which provides guidance and support to the Bank’s various business resource and affinity groups, including WAL Women’s Alliance, PRIDE@Work, African American Group, Abilities Group and many more. She is a member of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Finance Committee for the Academy of Our Lady of Peace, the oldest and only all-girls Catholic high school in San Diego.
Ms. Castagnola attended the University of San Diego.
