You Should Teach A Consumer Law Course

In the wake of the great recession of 2008, law schools saw a surge in interest in consumer protection courses, covering issues such as mortgages, debt collection, and credit reporting. In the same way, we anticipate that the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout (job and housing loss, predatory lending, etc.) will lead to another swell in demand from law students for consumer protection-related courses. New crops of students will be interested in learning how they can help consumers in the context of their careers.

In order to prepare, we anticipate that there will be a need for more instructors in law schools who are experts in these fields, particularly and especially consumer advocates.

What You Will Learn

• How to find and approach a law school about teaching a consumer law course
• How to organize a consumer law course
• How to prepare to teach, address students’ expectations, and take advantage of your practical experiences in the field

Speakers

Lesley Fair has been  a distinguished lecturer on the adjunct faculty of the Catholic University Law School since 1984. She also teaches Consumer Protection Law at the George Washington University Law School and recently received GW’s Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award. Her day job is as a senior attorney with the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. After twenty-five years litigating false advertising and fraud cases, she now specializes in consumer and business education. She is the primary author of the FTC’s Business Blog, honored by the ABA Journal as one of the nation’s best law blogs and one of the few focusing on consumer protection issues.

Cary Flitter is founding partner in Flitter Milz P.C., based in Philadelphia. He represents clients as individuals and in class actions, in consumer lending, unfair debt collection, vehicle financing and leasing overcharges, credit reporting, credit privacy, product warranty, identity theft, and other consumer cases. Cary has served on the adjunct faculty at Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law and Delaware Law School of Widener University, where he teaches Consumer Law & Litigation, including class action practice. From 1991 to 1999, he served on the adjunct faculty at Philadelphia University’s School of Business, teaching Commercial Law. Cary has accepted invitations to guest lecture on consumer law issues at Harvard Law School, University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and many other venues.

Ted Mermin directs the Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice at the UC Berkeley law school, where he teaches Consumer Protection Law and Comparative Consumer Law, serves as pro bono counsel to the Consumer Justice Clinic, and advises the student Consumer Advocacy and Protection Society. Rumors persist that he has something to do with the CLASS Network, a Berkeley Law/NACA project to bring consumer law courses, clinics, and student groups to law schools around the nation.