As I have done for the past 16 years, I will again be co-chairing and speaking at the 17th Annual Consumer Financial Services Institute, sponsored by the Practising Law Institute. The event will take place on April 9-10, in New York City (and by live webcast and groupcast in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Mechanicsville, Pennsylvania) and May 3-4, in Chicago.

I am pleased to announce that we have added a new co-chair this year—Deepak Gupta, a lawyer in the enforcement division of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And I am delighted that two of my partners, Christopher J. Willis and Martin C. Bryce, Jr., will be participating (Chris in New York City and Marty in Chicago), along with other experts in consumer financial services regulation and litigation.

The Institute will begin with a detailed panel discussion among CFPB legal staff about the CFPB’s regulatory, supervisory, and enforcement agenda for 2012. That will be followed by a panel of legal staff from the OCC, FDIC, and FTC, who will update us on consumer issues at those agencies.

This year’s Institute will cover significant developments in class action and other consumer financial services litigation. Among other topics, we will be discussing the mortgage foreclosure documentation issues raised by “robo-signing,” challenges to MERS, and how these issues are finding their way into other types of loans. We will also talk about the future of consumer arbitration in light of the Supreme Court’s decision last year in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion.

For the complete description of the event and to register, visit PLI’s 17th Annual Consumer Financial Services Institute page.