Consumer Law Training

Description

This CORT sponsored training will be held in Ann Arbor April 15- 17.

Please click on registration link for description and training details.

Trainers:

Jamie Andree

Jamie Andree has worked for Indiana Legal Services [ILS] since graduating from Cornell University Law School in 1979. She has been the Director of the ILS Low Income Taxpayer Clinic since 2007. During that time she has represented hundreds of low income taxpayers to resolve controversies with IRS. In addition, she has provided training and education on a wide range of tax matters to taxpayers, lawyers, law students, and other advocates. Ms. Andree taught Poverty Law as an Adjunct Professor at the IU Law School from 2000 through 2008. She was Co-Director of the law school’s Elder Law Clinic from 2006 through 2008. Ms. Andree is a member of the Indiana and Monroe County Bar Associations and the ABA and ISBA Sections on Taxation. She serves on the State Board of Law Examiners Committee on Character and Fitness. She was a Contributing Editor to Effectively Representing Your Client Before the IRS (5th Ed.) and has co-authored a chapter, Understanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, for the upcoming 6th Edition. Ms. Andree is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Tax Court, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, and the Indiana Supreme Court. In February 2008, she received an Exemplary Public Service Award from Cornell University Law School.

Andrew Ault

Andrew Ault spent his last year at Indiana University Law – Indianapolis, and graduated with a Juris Doctorate that same year. He acquired a Spanish degree from IUPUI and graduated with his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2003. Prior to that, Mr. Ault spent two years serving a mission for his church in Argentina. His experience in helping often underprivileged and struggling Spanish speakers gave him background and experience for his current work as an attorney for Indiana Legal Services, a position that he has held since 2008. During his time at Indiana Legal Services, Andrew has helped many homeowners and auto fraud victims keep their property and vindicate their rights. Since January of 2012, Andrew is the Consumer Group Lead and handles the majority of auto fraud and real estate matters that come in to the Indianapolis Regional Office of Indiana Legal Services. Andrew is a litigation specialist in that capacity and enjoys providing ongoing support to homeowners and auto fraud victims. Andrew’s main objective in consumer litigation is to allow homeowners and fraud victims to keep and pay for their properties as agreed. Depending on the circumstances, he also assists his clients voluntarily surrender their property without the added worry of any future liability. Since the fall of 2012, Andrew has served on a part time contract with the Indiana Supreme Court to facilitate mortgage foreclosure settlement conferences. He now acts in that capacity in six Indiana Superior Courts.

John Brengle

John Brengle has been director of the Consumer Law Center at Indiana Legal Services, Inc., since 2001. He represents clients in consumer cases and provides consumer law assistance and support to attorneys and paralegals throughout the statewide program. He has been a presenter at seventeen CLE events in Indiana since 2002, and has conducted numerous internal substantive training forums for ILS. He was a staff attorney with Legal Services Organization of Indiana from 1979-91, and chaired the Consumer Task Force of the four Indiana legal services programs. He practiced with the firm of Seiller & Handmaker, of Louisville, KY, concentrating primarily in bankruptcy (consumer, business and litigation), from 1991-2001. He is a graduate of DePauw University (B.A. 1976) and Indiana University Maurer School of Law (J.D. 1979).

Ronald L. Burdge

Ronald L. Burdge is the founder of Burdge Law Office in Dayton, Ohio. He has authored numerous articles in national, state, and local publications, and lectured widely on Consumer Law topics, Attorney Fee issues and trial practice and strategy topics. He is widely known as a leading Consumer Law attorney with 36 years of litigation experience representing thousands of consumers, with a focus on Motor Vehicle Sales Fraud and Lemon Law. He has extensive trial and appellate experience in individual and class action cases involving lenders, car dealers, manufacturers and their business practices and is one of the few Consumer Law Trial Attorneys who has tried a class action case to a jury. He was first named as an Ohio Super Lawyer in 2005 and was named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the National Association of Consumer Advocates in 2004 and has been an examiner for the National Board of Trial Advocacy. For the last 15 years he has conducted Consumer Law Attorney Fee Surveys resulting in biannual published Reports that have been cited with approval in over 40 federal court decisions. Mr. Burdge is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Consumer Advocates and has testified as an expert witness on Consumer Law and Attorney Fee issues in numerous state and federal courts.

Joshua Cohen

Joshua Cohen received his B.A. in psychology from Brandeis University in 1996; his M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix in 2002; and his J.D. from Quinnipiac University School of Law in 2007. During law school, he worked as a law clerk for Connecticut Legal Services – Consumer Law Project for Elders and a private consumer law firm. In October of 2008, Josh started his own firm, the Law Office of Joshua R.I. Cohen. He specialized in debt collection defense, debt collector harassment and abusive conduct (FDCPA), credit report issues, and debt settlement. Josh later decided to focus on student loan law. Rather quickly, he realized that this was an especially underrepresented area of consumer law and there was a growing need for legal help.

Tom Feltner

Tom Feltner is the director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America, an association of non-profit consumer organizations that was established in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy, and education. At CFA, Feltner heads coalition building, policy development and advocacy in the areas of automobile insurance reform, high-cost lending and financial services regulation. In this position, he is regularly engaged in state and national efforts to further the consumer interest in the financial services marketplace and protect consumers, particularly lower-income consumers, from abusive practices.

Peter Holland

Peter Holland is recognized as a national authority on consumer protection law, with a special emphasis on debt buyer lawsuits. He teaches consumer law at the University of Maryland law school, and is a frequent lecturer at state and national consumer protection conferences. He is regularly sought out by other lawyers for mentoring, advice and counsel, and he has been co-counsel in class action lawsuits resulting in the dismissal of thousands of lawsuits filed by debt buyers and by automobile finance companies. Peter received his B.A. in Philosophy from Bard College, his M.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John's College of Annapolis, and his J.D. from University of Maryland School of Law, where he received the Public Service Award. He has been in private practice in Annapolis since 1993, starting in a general civil litigation firm, and then opening his own practice in 1997.

Kristi Cahoon Kelly

Kristi C. Kelly focuses her practice on advocating for individuals in the area of consumer law. Ms. Kelly was a shareholder at Surovell Isaacs Petersen & Levy whose practice focused on consumer rights litigation in state and federal courts throughout Virginia. She has represented individuals against banks, brokers, auto dealers, car title lenders, debt collectors, credit card companies, credit bureaus and foreclosure rescue scammers. In May 2010, she received a $686,600 jury verdict and her attorney fees from a foreclosure rescue scammer. After graduating law school, Ms. Kelly worked for Legal Services of Northern Virginia as a housing and consumer law attorney. In that position, she co-founded the Foreclosure Legal Assistance Program (FLAP) to provide legal advice and housing counseling to prevent foreclosures. In that capacity, she supervised and trained a network of attorneys and staff throughout northern Virginia. Ms. Kelly has been a presenter at various trainings on the local and statewide level focusing on foreclosure prevention, consumer rights for domestic violence survivors, landlord tenant law, predatory loans, dealing with debt collectors and understanding credit reports. She was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 2006 after graduating from the University of Richmond TC Williams School of Law. At graduation, she received the Nina R. Kestin award for her extraordinary contributions to the school, community and profession. Ms. Kelly received her degree cum laude from Dickinson College, where she was a four year varsity soccer player. She lives in Vienna, Virginia with her husband and son, Joseph.

Jonathan L. Kessler

Jonathan L. Kessler received his B.A. in 1980 from Southwestern College, Winfield, KS; and his J.D. in 1985 from Duke Law School, Durham, N.C. Jon joined the Federal Trade Commission in October 1985 and has worked on both the Commission’s antitrust and consumer protection missions. His antitrust cases have included mergers involving hospitals, grocery stores, ski areas, and oil pipelines. His consumer protection cases have included door-to-door magazine sales, interest-rate-reduction robo-calls (“Rachel from Cardholder Services”), mortgage modification promises, business opportunities, energy savings devices, and used car parts. One of his cases stopped a work-at-home scam that had defrauded 77,000 consumers over 5 years; another closed an enterprise that had taken-in almost $50 million through debt-reduction schemes. In October 2014, he represented the FTC in Bogota, Colombia, at a remanufactured goods workshop organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Colombian Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (MinCIT), and the Colombian Directorate of National Taxes and Customs (DIAN).

Dani K. Liblang

Dani K. Liblang practices in the areas of automobile warranty and consumer protection litigation, personal injury, and alternative dispute resolution. She has been certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a civil trial lawyer. Ms. Liblang has twice served as chairperson (2014-2015 and 2004-2005) of the Consumer Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She is a member and a former vice president of the Oakland chapter of the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association, now known as the Michigan Association for Justice. Ms. Liblang was awarded the National Association of Consumer Advocates' 2002 Consumer Hero Award. She has been named a Michigan Super Lawyer in the area of consumer law every year since 2006. Ms. Liblang is a contributor to the National Consumer Law Center's "Consumer Law Pleadings."

Ian B. Lyngklip

Ian B. Lyngklip is a partner at Lyngklip & Associates Consumer Law Center PLC. Mr. Lyngklip is a former member and Chairperson of the State Bar of Michigan Consumer Law Section Counsel, and a past Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. He regularly provides training in consumer law around the country, which have included participation in programs for other consumer advocates, legal aid groups, industry, regulatory bodies, judges, and legislators. He is the recipient of many honors including the Oakland County Bar Association Pro Bono Service Award, June 2005, the Frank Kelly Award, Michigan State Bar Association Consumer Law Section, September 2004, and the Consumer Advocate of the Year, National Association of Consumer Advocates, October 2003. He is regularly quoted in articles concern credit reporting and debt collection abuse, and has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Kiplingers, the Scripps Howard News Wire, and the Detroit Free Press. His firm maintains its web site at www.MichiganConsumerLaw.com. He graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1987 and the University of Detroit School of Law in 1992.

Sarah Bolling Mancini

Sarah Bolling Mancini is Of Counsel to the National Consumer Law Center and also works half-time in the Home Defense Program of Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc. Sarah graduated from Harvard Law School in 2007 and received a Skadden Fellowship for public interest work. She clerked for the Honorable Amy Totenberg, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Sarah has advocated for vulnerable homeowners facing predatory mortgage lending practices and the threat of foreclosure in state court, federal court, and bankruptcy court. She compliments her individual client representation with media outreach and policy advocacy. Sarah is a co-author of Georgia Real Estate Finance and Foreclosure Law (2014-2015 ed.) and Collier on Bankruptcy (2015 ed.).

Marilyn Mullane

Marilyn Mullane is the Executive Director of Michigan Legal Services (MLS). The office provides impact oriented and direct legal services to low income households in the Detroit metropolitan area in the critical basic need areas of housing and community development, health, and public benefits. She served as the staff attorney specializing in housing and community development law at MLS for 10 years preceding her appointment as Director. For more than a decade, MLS has operated a joint tax foreclosure prevention program with the United Community Housing Coalition. In 2015, there were more than 75,000 properties in tax foreclosure in Wayne County, in addition to another 22,000 previously foreclosed and auctioned properties schedule to revert to the county in May 2015. To address this crisis with its limited staff the MLS, through its tax foreclosure prevention program, has trained more than 75 community volunteers in two months to assist with outreach, prevention and pro se clinic efforts.

Tara K. Ramchandani

Tara K. Ramchandani received her B.A. from Brown University, with honors; and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. Ms. Ramchandani practices primarily in civil rights litigation with a focus on housing, employment and public accommodations discrimination cases. Before joining Relman, Dane & Colfax, Ms. Ramchandani was a law clerk for the Honorable Algenon L. Marbley in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Prior to her clerkship, Ms. Ramchandani was an associate at Goodwin & Procter, LLP where she worked on a variety of litigation matters, including a lawsuit filed against the Massachusetts Bureau of Prisons for constitutional civil rights violations. During law school Ms. Ramchandani was the co-Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and was part of the Criminal Justice Institute and the Hale & Dorr Legal Services Center Employment Discrimination Clinic. Ms. Ramchandani is the author of the article Recent Development: In re African-American Slave Descendants Litigation, 471 F.3d 754 (7th Cir. 2006), 42 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 541 (2007). Ms. Ramchandani's better-known cases include in 2012, she represented seven families in a federal jury trial in Whyte, et al. v. Alston Management, et al. The families were discriminatorily forced from their Central Florida homes because they had children living in their households, and after a four-day trial, the jury awarded more than $1 million to her clients.

Steven Sharpe

Steven Sharpe is a Senior Attorney in the Hamilton office of the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, LLC, where he represents borrowers facing foreclosure and children in child protective services cases. He previously worked at the Bloomington office of Indiana Legal Services, Inc. where he started advocating on behalf of low-income homeowners in 2005 with a two-year Skadden fellowship. He has been active in national efforts to address problems with the servicing of FHA-insured and USDA-guaranteed mortgage loans. He has contributed to National Consumer Law Center's Foreclosures and Mortgage Servicing manual on issues related to FHA-insured loans, and he contributed a chapter on government insured loans to Ohio Consumer Law. His article addressing strategies for defending foreclosures of FHA-insured loans appeared in the March/April 2013 edition of the Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy. He is a frequent presenter at national, state, and local conferences on mortgage and litigation issues. Steve is a 2005 graduate of the Indiana University School of Law where he graduated magna cum laude and was the Executive Notes & Comments Editor of the Indiana Law Journal.

Eric P. Sublett

Eric P. Sublett received his B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin, with highest honors; his M.A. from Yale University; and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, cum laude. Mr. Sublett practices in fair lending compliance. Before joining Relman, Dane & Colfax, Mr. Sublett worked on fair housing issues as a volunteer attorney with the Connecticut Fair Housing Center. Mr. Sublett also was a visiting fellow with the Information Society Project at Yale Law School and holds a master’s degree in economics.

Geoff Walsh

Geoff Walsh is a staff attorney with the National Consumer Law Center’s Boston office. Before joining NCLC, Mr. Walsh worked for over twenty-five years representing low income consumers with Community Legal Services in Philadelphia and Vermont Legal Aid. His practice has focused upon foreclosure and bankruptcy issues. Recently he has extensively prepared training material and presentations for mediators and attorneys working with homeowners in foreclosure. Mr. Walsh is a contributing author to various NCLC publications: Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice, Foreclosures, and Student Loans. Mr. Walsh earned his B.A. from University of Michigan and his J.D. from Temple University School of Law.