Casey Baker will give students and the public the chance to understand some of the intricacies involved in bankruptcy. There will be time for any questions you have after the presentation.

Cannabis policy is rapidly evolving across the country, raising a host of legal issues for lawyers, regulators, law enforcement, and industry leaders. Our goal is to engage lawyers, policy experts, government officials, and business entrepreneurs to strategically navigate the legal issues for hemp and cannabis industries and to provide predictability for this industry in West Virginia. Please see the following agenda for the list of topics and expert speakers that will be presented at the conference.

Cutting edge research on consumer financial decision making by scholars across diverse fields: economics, law, psychology, sociology, anthropology, marketing, finance, and consumer sciences. Lively discussion of this research by scholars, regulators, consumer advocates, and financial services professionals.

The inaugural Consumer Law Scholars Conference will offer attendees the chance to be involved in the discussion of relevant topics.

Conference attendance is open to attorneys who can certify all of the following: Neither I, nor anyone in my firm: (1) sue consumers on consumer debt; (2) advise businesses regarding debt collection or evictions involving consumers, or (3) represent landlords in evictions. Neither I, nor anyone in my firm, defend any clients against FDCPA, TCPA, FCRA, or other consumer claims. In the previous 5 years, I have not engaged in any of the activities described in the two preceding certifications, or I have sent a written explanation to conference@nclc.org of any such work in the past 5 years. I do not handle debt settlement matters, or if I do represent clients in debt settlement affairs, I do not engage in any disqualifying conduct.

Learn from the experts about the latest developments in consumer litigation, industry trends, and public policy. Hear from the nation’s most successful consumer litigators. Ask questions, share ideas, and connect with your colleagues! Learn powerful consumer law remedies and attorney fee recovery methods. Save on NCLC’s legal practice publications with exclusive conference discounts. Earn CLE credits while you learn from the experts! Get inspired and energized by hundreds of passionate advocates who fight for consumer justice, just like you.

Communities of color often face challenges connecting to and maintaining affordable broadband and voice service. The federal Lifeline program has been around since the mid-1980s. While it started as a low-income program to help households afford voice service, it has been expanded to include wireless voice and broadband Internet support. The program is available in every state and territory and has helped over 1.5 million households in 2016 with low-cost, and in some cases free voice (750 minutes a month) or voice and data services (for example, 3G and 1 GB/data in a wireless voice and data bundle). Now some of the most popular Lifeline products are under attack, particularly the universal availability of these low-cost/no-cost products. Hear from our panel of experts about the Lifeline program and how it works and what potential changes could emerge in the near future and what steps you can take to defend affordable access for low-income people.

The National Consumer Law Center and the Criminal Justice Policy Program at Harvard Law School's free webinar series on criminal justice debt continues this spring. Confronting Criminal Justice Debt focuses on the fines and fees imposed by the criminal justice system. This webinar series brings together leading attorneys, academics, and other advocates to identify problems with the current fine and fee practices, including their disproportionate impact on the poor and people of color, and to discuss litigation and policy solutions.

Lawsuits are currently challenging harsh criminal justice debt collection practices, including "debtor's prisons" and automatic license suspensions. This webinar discussed litigation strategies and challenges when pursuing affirmative claims against harsh criminal justice debt collection practices, and will encourage participants to incorporate consumer and constitutional law insights in their work.

The Constitution prohibits jailing defendants for non-payment of debts they cannot afford but too often courts fail to conduct adequate "ability to pay" proceedings and unrepresented individuals are sent to jail simply because they are too poor to pay a fee. This webinar discusses both effective representation of individuals in ability to pay proceedings and best practices for ability to pay determinations that advocates should promote in policy reform.

As payday loans evolve, payday and other small-dollar lenders are pushing states to permit even more unaffordable high-cost loans that will plunge families into an even bigger and deeper debt trap. Advocates need to anticipate and prepare for these efforts well before bills are introduced and the lobbying begins. This webinar will focus on successful efforts across the country to use story gathering, coalition building, policy briefs, reports, polls, and other educational efforts to fight predatory lending.

A new California law that changes the way companies handle personal information could affect consumers nationwide. The law imposes some of the toughest privacy protections in the country, but the law stops short of tougher measures California was considering. The law, which takes effect in 2020, mandates a wide variety of new protections for consumers, giving consumers new transparency, access, opt out, deletion, and portability rights. This webinar will provide an overview about what the law does, what it doesn’t do, how the law will be refined as it is implemented, and what is next on the privacy frontier.

While many for-profit schools previously tried to insulate themselves from lawsuits using forced arbitration clauses and class action bans, a rule that went into effect in October 2018 conditions school participation in the federal student loan program on agreement not to enforce these clauses against students with consumer claims. The Department has proposed rescinding the rule, but the soonest that would happen is July 2020 - so there is a short window for many students to sue in court.

Most states suspend driver's licenses based on unpaid debts arising out of criminal proceedings or traffic tickets, and as a result millions of low-income people have lost their licenses simply because they cannot afford to pay fines and fees. This webinar will briefly address the harsh, perverse, and discriminatory impact of such policies before diving into what attorneys and local organizers can do to address this problem. We'll use efforts in Virginia and North Carolina as case studies, and will hear from advocates in Virginia engaged in impact litigation and legislative reform efforts that appear poised for success, as well as from an attorney and an organizer with North Carolina's innovative Second Chance Mobility Project, which pairs a drivers' license protection and restoration legal services delivery program with community engagement and organizing.

Learn from the experts about the latest developments in consumer litigation, industry trends, and public policy. Hear from the nation’s most successful consumer litigators. Ask questions, share ideas, and connect with your colleagues! Learn powerful consumer law remedies and attorney fee recovery methods. Save on NCLC’s legal practice publications with exclusive conference discounts. Earn CLE credits while you learn from the experts! Get inspired and energized by hundreds of passionate advocates who fight for consumer justice, just like you.

Conference attendance is open to attorneys who can certify all of the following: Neither I, nor anyone in my firm: (1) sue consumers on consumer debt; (2) advise businesses regarding debt collection or evictions involving consumers, or (3) represent landlords in evictions. Neither I, nor anyone in my firm, defend any clients against FDCPA, TCPA, FCRA, or other consumer claims. In the previous 5 years, I have not engaged in any of the activities described in the two preceding certifications, or I have sent a written explanation to conference@nclc.org of any such work in the past 5 years. I do not handle debt settlement matters, or if I do represent clients in debt settlement affairs, I do not engage in any disqualifying conduct.

The inaugural Consumer Law Scholars Conference will offer attendees the chance to be involved in the discussion of relevant topics.

Cutting edge research on consumer financial decision making by scholars across diverse fields: economics, law, psychology, sociology, anthropology, marketing, finance, and consumer sciences. Lively discussion of this research by scholars, regulators, consumer advocates, and financial services professionals.

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Cannabis policy is rapidly evolving across the country, raising a host of legal issues for lawyers, regulators, law enforcement, and industry leaders. Our goal is to engage lawyers, policy experts, government officials, and business entrepreneurs to strategically navigate the legal issues for hemp and cannabis industries and to provide predictability for this industry in West Virginia. Please see the following agenda for the list of topics and expert speakers that will be presented at the conference.