Dennis Cariello has joined DLA Piper's New York office. In his new position, Cariello will continue to focus on higher education issues. He will also be serving as a co-chair of the new education and education services group.
Cariello was formerly from Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, which is now known as SNR Denton. Before this stint, he was deputy general counsel for post secondary education and regulatory services at the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).
Cariello joined what was then Sonnenschein as counsel in its capital markets practice. At the firm, he will work with clients on similar types of matters and with issues related to for-profit and not for profit schools and higher education service providers.
For his stint at DOE, Cariello supervised all legal services related to the development and implementation of federal programs that assist postsecondary education.
Before joining the Education Department in 2007, Cariello worked at Barnes, Iaccarino,
Virginia, Ambinder & Shepherd in New York, litigating commercial and labor law
matters.
Cariello was the lead attorney and developer of the DoE's $150 billion Loan Purchase Programs, and he managed the drafting of documents governing the participation interest and loan sale programs.
He also advised the department on regulatory matters, including those related to No Child Left Behind and the Higher Education Act. He served as lead attorney and developer of the department’s $60 billion ABCP Conduit Program, which is estimated to save the government as much as $4.75 billion.
In 2008, Cariello was briefly acting deputy assistant secretary for enforcement in the
Education Department’s office for civil rights. He oversaw enforcement of certain statutes,
including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title II of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990.
Cariello has consulted with the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank on
matters related to the temporary liquidity facilities serving student loans and student loan ABS.
