Here's the press release: STUDY SHOWS HOW LAWSUITS SAVE LIVES AND CAN MITIGATE OUR NATION’S MOST SERIOUS CRISES NEW YORK — The Center for Justice & Democracy at New York Law School (CJ&D) released today Lifesavers 2021: CJ&D’s Guide to Lawsuits that Protect Us All. The study describes over 125 lawsuits that have led to major safety […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
From the announcement: Ballard Spahr is excited to host a 2L Diversity Fellowship Program in partnership with our Consumer Financial Services (CFS) group. Through this program, we will select an outstanding 2L student who will be employed by Ballard Spahr as a 2021 summer associate in the CFS group. The student will spend time during […]
by Jeff Sovern Report here (may be behind a paywall). FTC bio here. My first reaction is that he's an excellent choice. UPDATE: Blog co-founder and prominent Supreme Court consumer advocate Deepak Gupta on the choice: "This is a home run. There's nobody better than Rohit to take the helm of the CFPB at this […]
Tribute to Andy Spanogle, 1934-2020. By Dee Pridgen, Professor Emeritus, University of Wyoming College of Law I was very saddened to learn the news that my dear friend, and coauthor, Andy (John A.) Spanogle, had passed away in December of last year. He was a towering figure in the law, especially in the fields of […]
by Jeff Sovern Obituary here. Andy was one of the original co-authors of our casebook and I met him when I worked on the third edition of the book. Andy was larger than life, so filled with bonhomie that you almost didn't realize how brilliant he was. One way Andy will live on is through […]
by Jeff Sovern The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Representative Katie Porter may be dropped from the House Financial Services Committee. As someone who has regularly listened to House Financial Services Committee hearings on consumer matters for years, I believe that would be a huge loss. I cannot think of anyone who has been […]
by Jeff Sovern The report is here. I played hooky from the AALS Financial Serices & Consumer Financial Services program to listen to the Bureau's simultaneous event to release the report (don't tell Rory Van Loo). I haven't read the voluminous report but some comments on the remarks at the event: I learned that when […]
Claudia Polsky of Berkeley and Megan Schwarzman of Berkeley's School of Public Health have written The Hidden Success of a Conspicuous Law: Proposition 65 and the Reduction of Toxic Chemical Exposures, 47 Ecology Law Quarterly, (Forthcoming 2021). Here is the abstract: Newcomers to California could be forgiven for thinking they have crossed into treacherous terrain. By virtue […]
by Jeff Sovern The CFPB has posted to its website an announcement that it will hold an event on January 5 to announce the "findings, analyses, and recommendations" of its Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. Regular blog readers will recall that the Taskforce is not very diverse in a variety of ways. Earlier this […]

