Category Archives: Consumer Law Scholarship

Not an article I expected to see: article explores when ads can use swear words in the UK

Alexandros Antoniou of the University of Essex has written Swear-Vertising: When Does the Advertising Watchdog Bark? 27 Communications Law – Journal of Computer, Media and Telecommunications Law 111 (2022). Here’s the abstract: The article examines the extent to which advertisers can expressly use, or use by implication, swear words in their advertising. It reviews the […]

Using consumer law to protect workers

In Consumer Law as Work Law (forthcoming Calif. L. Rev. 2024), law professor Jonathan Harris describes the possibilities and challenges of turning to consumer law as part of an integrated work law to help remediate the bargaining power asymmetries between firms and workers. Here is the abstract: In recent decades, firms have radically transformed labor […]

Faust article proposes interesting solution for when lenders make loans consumers lack the ability to repay

Abigail Faust of The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute has written Regulating Excessive Credit, forthcoming in the Wisconsin Law Review.  Here is the abstract: Consumer financial protection law is dominated by ex-ante, contract-centered regulatory measures. But these measures largely fail to curb lenders’ incentive to lend beyond consumers’ ability to repay. The Article thus suggests an alternative […]

Predatory Crypto in Real Estate: Paper explores replacement of mortgage consumer protections with crypto

R Wilson Freyermuth of the University of Missouri at Columbia, Christopher K. Odinet of Iowa, and Andrea Tosato of the University of Nottingham, School of Law and Penn have written Predatory Crypto in Real Estate. Here is the abstract: Blockchain and cryptocurrencies have ushered in a digital gold rush. But all that glitters is not gold. […]

Study examines extent to which student loan borrowers eligible for PSLF benefit even before obtaining loan forgiveness

Daniel Collier, Assistant Professor of Adult and Higher Education, University of Memphis and Dan Fitzpatrick, Research and Assessment Specialist, University of Michigan, have written Jubilee and Jubilation: An Examination of the Relationship between Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Measures of Well-Being. Here is the abstract: A team of researchers at the University of Memphis and the […]

Automating Bias Symposium at Cardozo Law School on January 25, 2023

We received the following announcement: Automating Bias Symposium Cardozo Law School January 25, 9:30- 4:45 Algorithmic models built using machine learning and large volumes of personal data are increasingly used to target consumers with credit offers, assess consumers’ creditworthiness, price credit, provide debt management advice to consumers, resolve credit disputes, and more generally automate the […]

Study finds 83% of consumers agreed to social network terms of service that obliged them to provide kidney or eyeball

Jonathan A. Obar of the Department of Communication Studies at York University and the Quello Center at Michigan State and Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch of the Department of Communication at Connecticut have written Older Adults and ‘The Biggest Lie on the Internet’: From Ignoring Social Media Policies to the Privacy Paradox, 16 International Journal of Communication 4779 […]

CFP: IACL Conference in Germany: Challenges and Unanswered Questions of Consumer Law

We received the following call for papers. More information is available here. 18th International Association of Consumer Law Conference (IACL) Topic: Challenges and Unanswered Questions of Consumer Law CALL FOR PAPERS Abstract submission deadline: 16 December 2022 Feedback: 20 February 2023 Guidelines: max. 300 words, 5-7 keywords Dates: Wednesday, 19 July 2023 – Friday, 21 […]

Conti-Brown’s and Feinstein’s article finds grade inflation in CRA ratings

Peter Conti-Brown of Penn’s Wharton School and the Brookings Institution and Brian D. Feinstein, also of Wharton have written Banking on a Curve: How to Restore the Community Reinvestment Act, Harvard Business Law Review, Forthcoming. Here’s the abstract: The federal government’s primary financial-regulatory tool for combating wealth inequality is broken. Intended to push banks towards deeper engagement […]

Mark Lemley paper proposes presumption that standard form contracts cannot vary contract law defaults

Mark A. Lemley of Stanford has written The Benefit of the Bargain. Here's the abstract: Contract law has lost its way. Designed as a way to allow people to agree, it has over time become a means for large businesses to unilaterally impose terms and conditions on others. In large part that is a function of […]