Academic & Scholarly News

On May 18-19, the Center for Consumer Law at the University of Houston Law Center will hold its sixth bi-annual Teaching Consumer Law Conference. This year’s theme is “Teaching Consumer Law in an Evolving Economy.” I have always enjoyed this conference as it is the only one in the country devoted exclusively to teaching consumer law.  It is designed for those currently teaching consumer law, those interested in teaching, as well as those who just wants to know more about consumer law issues.

Here's a plug for a conference on mobile payments that the FTC is hosting next week.  It will be webcast live.  The agenda is here.  I'm one of the speakers.  

It's the time of year when professors, including those who are adjunct professors or are interested in teaching as adjuncts, submit their proposed courses for the next academic year. Many of us teach a general 3 or 4 unit bankruptcy course that uses a textbook, and some of us teach specialized seminars on chapter 11. This year think about teaching a seminar on consumer bankruptcy. I've got just the class all ready to go--course pack, syllabus, writing assignments, even in-class exercises.

In the introductory chapter of the book, Broke: How Debt Bankrupts the Middle Class,  I present some data about consumer debt levels in the United States.