Category Archives: Consumer Law Scholarship

Bruckner et al. article on when the DOE should not contest the discharge of student loans

Matthew A. Bruckner of Howard, Brook Gotberg of Missouri, Dalié Jiménez of Irvine and Harvard's Center on the Legal Profession, and Chrystin D. Ondersma of Rutgers have written No-Contest Discharge for Uncollectable Student Loans, forthcoming in the University of Colorado Law Review (2020). Here is the abstract: Over 44 million Americans owe more than 1.4 trillion […]

Reidenberg et al. Article on Trustworthy Privacy Indicators

Joel R. Reidenberg of Fordham, together with four co-authors, has written Trustworthy Privacy Indicators: Grades, Labels, Certifications and Dashboards, 96 Washington University Law Review  (2019).  Here's the abstract: Despite numerous groups’ efforts to score, grade, label, and rate the privacy of websites, apps, and network-connected devices, these attempts at privacy indicators have, thus far, not been […]

Gilles & Friedman paper on Qui Tam as a model for enforcement of group rights

Myriam E. Gilles of Cardozo and Gary B. Friedman of the Friedman Law Group have written The New Qui Tam: A Model for the Enforcement of Group Rights in a Hostile Era. Here is the abstract: The present Administration has made clear it has no interest in enforcing statutes designed to protect workers, consumers, voters and […]

Bradley Paper: The Consumer Protection Ecosystem

Christopher G. Bradley of Kentucky has written The Consumer Protection Ecosystem: Law, Norms, and Technology. Here is the abstract: Consumer law provokes fierce policy debate on issues from identity theft to online privacy, from arbitration clauses and class action lawsuits to Americans’ accumulation of debt and the unsavory practices sometimes used to collect. Pervasive technology in […]

Hayashi Paper: Consumer Law Myopia

Andrew T. Hayashi of Virginia has written Consumer Law Myopia. Here is the abstract: People make mistakes with debt, partly because the chance to buy now and pay later tempts them to do things that are not in their long-term interest. Lenders sell credit products that exploit this vulnerability. In this Article, I argue that critiques […]

A Way for Consumer Agencies to Generate Thought on Issues of Interest

by Jeff Sovern A post inspired by a question I heard Kathleen Engel ask: every year second-year students ask professors for suggestions for topics to write about for law reviews. Law professors and other lawyers also cast about for article topics.  Meanwhile, administrative agencies often confront questions about what the law is or how it […]

Berkeley Consumer Law Scholars Conference 2019 Opens This Thursday

The Berkeley Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice is holding its Consumer Law Scholars Conference on Thursday and Friday. More information, including the papers to be discussed, here.  The Conference has an impressive list of participants and it promises to be a terrific event.

Sarin study finds interventions in credit and overdraft markets increased consumer welfare but interventions in debit market decreased it

Natasha Sarin of Penn has written Making Consumer Finance Work. Here's the abstract: The financial crisis exposed major faultlines in banking and financial markets more broadly. Policymakers responded with far-reaching regulation that created a new agency—the CFPB—and changed the structure and function of these markets.  Consumer advocates cheered reforms as welfare-enhancing, while the financial sector declared […]

Benoliel & Becher Paper on the Unreadability of Web Site Sign-In Wrap Contracts

Uri Benoliel of the College of Law and Business – Ramat Gan Law School and Shmuel I. Becher of the Victoria University of Wellington have written The Duty to Read the Unreadable. Here's the abstract: The duty to read doctrine is a well-recognized building block of U.S. contract law. Under this doctrine, contracting parties are held […]

Jacob Hale Russell Paper Shows Death of Unconscionablity Doctrine is Greatly Exaggerated

Jacob Hale Russell of Rutgers and Stanford’s Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance has written Unconscionability’s Greatly Exaggerated Death. Here is the abstract: Reports of unconscionability’s demise are greatly exaggerated. According to conventional wisdom, the common-law contracts doctrine is rarely used, except in limiting clauses that purport to waive consumers’ remedial rights. In […]