“I’ve had clients tell me they were afraid to open their mailboxes. One couple told me their daughter heard them arguing about money, and offered to put off going to college if it would help.
In my consumer law practice, I work to help people who are struggling because of unlawful debt collection practices, inaccurate credit reporting, and wrongful mortgage practices. It’s challenging work, but it’s incredibly rewarding to be able to help people who are struggling financially, and help give them a chance to improve their condition.
I originally became a consumer lawyer by accident, when I took a summer clerkship and ended up working closely with Rand Bragg on his consumer law cases. As a young law student, I was really excited by the opportunities to appear in federal court and serve as co-counsel on cases from around the country, as well as the fact that we got to play a role in holding big companies and financial institutions accountable for their practices. Over time, I grew to appreciate the opportunity to help clients frame the narrative of what happened to them in front of the judge, and saw the huge difference that these cases made in the lives of people who were really hurting.
A lot of financial institutions come into court with the assumption that people are not going to have adequate representation — or any representation for that matter — so every lawyer who shows up for consumers makes a big difference.
Many servicers simply refuse to follow the law, even though they deal with thousands of bankruptcies every day and know perfectly well that what they’re doing is wrong — they just haven’t had to deal with the kind of consequences that will force them to change their ways. I’m glad to have the opportunity to get compensation for my individual clients, but also, through my involvement with NCLC and NACA — serving on the NACA Board of Directors and speaking regularly at NCLC conferences — to contribute to the aggregate work of hundreds of other attorneys who are holding servicers accountable and pushing them to change their practices, to create a better, fairer outcome for borrowers all over the country.”