Consumer law — which can include everything from debt collection abuses and inflated drug prices to false advertising and sub-prime auto lending — can be hazy at times. But a new center at Berkeley Law aims to make the school a national and global leader in its study, research, and practice.
Established by a $3.5 million gift from renowned litigator Elizabeth Cabraser ’78 (above), the Berkeley Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice is the first of its kind among top-tier law schools. “Consumer law is at work all around us, every day. But it’s almost invisible in law schools,” says Cabraser, a founding partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein in San Francisco. “This center will actively help protect people in the modern marketplace.”
The center will strive to fuel meaningful policy change — via white papers, briefs in consumer cases nationwide, input to legislatures and regulatory agencies on behalf of low-income consumers, and new courses and hands-on student opportunities.
Suzanne Martindale ’10, a Berkeley Law student during the 2008 financial collapse, was among a handful of students helping low-income clients respond to lawsuits at a debt collection clinic. She has witnessed student interest in consumer law mushroom. “Now that our consumer law community has roots, it needs a garden with room to grow,” she says.
Cabraser believes that Berkeley Law is just the place where a “consumer law renaissance” can flourish. “Every one of us lives a daily life as a consumer,” she says, “and marketplace fairness is a universal right.”
