On November 7, 2012, I will be a panelist at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law program “Great Conversations: The Role of Arbitration in Consumer Lending.”  Joining me on the panel will be William Wade-Gery, an attorney with the CFPB.  Will is heading the CFPB’s study of the use of arbitration in consumer financial services agreements. 

The Dodd-Frank Act requires the CFPB to conduct that study and authorizes the CFPB to limit or prohibit the use of arbitration based on the CFPB’s findings.  This past April, the CFPB issued a request for information that posed a series of questions on the scope, methodology, and data sources of the study.  Ballard Spahr was engaged by several leading banking industry trade groups to assist them in preparing a comment letter responding to the CFPB’s request.

The program will take place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET in Baltimore, Maryland.  There is no charge to attend and registration information is available here.