Consumer Law

Financial institutions wield enormous power over the daily transactions of our life. Consumer law, at its best, strives to reshape our interactions with financial institutions, redistributing some of this power to consumers. In this course, we will examine how consumer law has tried to mediate the relationship between financial institutions and consumers over time. We will pay particularly close attention to the way government intervention in certain markets has structured this relationship in good and bad ways. The course will provide an overview of federal and state laws governing consumer financial transactions, as well as the institutions and entities responsible for enforcing these laws. Although we will cover the regulation of certain markets in depth, the course will not provide a comprehensive treatment of the subject. The goal is to introduce students to the major issues in modern consumer law. This class uses component grading and there is no final exam. Grades will be based on class participation, assessments, and one or more papers. Students may take this class to satisfy either Upper-Class Writing Requirement. Students may also elect to take this class pass/fail.