Theresa Kananen

Theresa Kananen is a Partner at Arnall Golden Gregory LLP and co-chairs the firm’s Payments Systems Practice. Theresa devotes a significant portion of her practice to representing the acquiring side of the payments industry—including processors, ISOs, and payment facilitators—in a vast array of legal matters that encompass both adversarial disputes and regulatory and compliance work. She handles litigation with merchants over chargebacks, reserves, MATCH listings, and early termination fees. She also handles government investigations of payments companies by the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state attorneys’ general. On the compliance and regulatory side, Theresa advises clients on compliance with card brand rules, including complex issues regarding surcharging, convenience fee, and cash discounting programs. She also assists clients with drafting and negotiating the various contracts necessary to facilitate the acquiring relationship, including merchant agreements, payment facilitator agreements, platform agreements, and sponsorship agreements.