Christopher L. Peterson
John J. Flynn Endowed Professor of Law
Prior to joining the faculty in 2008, Professor Peterson taught for five years at the University of Florida, Fredric G. Levin College of Law. He also served as judicial clerk for the Honorable Wade Brorby on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and then as a consumer rights attorney for the United States Public Interest Research Group in Washington, D.C. While in Washington, he lobbied Congress and federal regulatory agencies on consumer lending policy. A recognized authority on consumer finance, Professor Peterson has appeared before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and at the White House. He has lectured widely on credit policy, including recent presentations at Harvard Law School, New York University, and international presentations in Berlin, Hyderabad, Lima, London, Warsaw, and Zurich. Professor Peterson is widely published, including a piece discussing subprime home mortgage lending which was recently named the outstanding consumer finance law review article of the year by the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. In 2007, the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators named Professor Peterson the nation's outstanding consumer advocate in recognition of his role in promoting an act of Congress limiting the price of loans made to military service members.
Professor Peterson teaches contracts, commercial law, and consumer protection. Professor Peterson is currently on leave in the 2012-2013 academic year to serve as Senior Counsel for Enforcement Strategy with the U.S Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office of Enforcement.
Scholarship Highlights
Works in Progress
Mortgage Racketeering
Transnational Consumer Debt Collection
Books
Consumer Law: Cases and Materials, 4th Ed. (forthcoming, West 2013) (with John A. Spanogle, Ralph Rohner, Dee Pridgen and Jeff Sovern)
Taming The Sharks: Towards a Cure for the High Cost Credit Market (Series on Law, Politics and Society, U. of Akron Press, 2004) (winner ACCFSL writing competition)
Book Chapters
Predatory Lending and Socially Responsible Investing, in Socially Responsible Finance and Investing (H. Kent Baker & John Nofsinger, eds., John Wiley & Sons, forthcoming 2012)
The Political Economy of Consumer Credit Securitization: Comparing Predatory Lending in Home Finance in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan, in Consumer Credit, Debt, and Bankruptcy: Comparative and International Perspectives (William Whitford, Ian D. C. Ramsay, & Johanna Niemi-Kieseläinen, eds., Hart Publishing, 2009)
Subprime Mortgage Market Turmoil: Examining the Role of Securitization, in Mortgage Backed and Asset Backed Securities: Concept and Lessons from Subprime Markets (Pankaj M. Madhani, ed. 2009)
Articles
Two Faces: Demystifying the Mortgage Electronic Registration System's Land Title Theory, 53 William and Mary Law Review (forthcoming 2011)
Foreclosure, Subprime Mortgage Lending, and the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, 78 U. Cin. L. Rev. 1359 (2010)
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, And the Home Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis, 10 Loy. J. Pub. Int. L. 149 (2009) (Symposium on Predatory Lending and Its Impact on Consumer Credit)
Foreclosing on American Leadership, G8 Magazine 84 (Summer 2009)
Removing the Target: Protecting Military Service Members and Veterans from Financial Predators, 35(2) Hum. Rts. 8 (Spring 2008)
Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion and American Credit Pricing Limits, 92 Minn. L. Rev. 1110 (2008)
Usury Law and The Christian Right: Faith-Based Political Power And The Geography Of American Payday Loan Regulation, co-authored with Stephen Graves, 57 Cath. U. L. Rev. 637 (2008)
Predatory Structured Finance, 28 Cardozo L. Rev. 2185 (2007) (winner ACCFSL writing competition)
Cleaning Up a Consumer Lending Mess, Boston Globe, Mar. 3, 2007
Preemption, Agency Cost Theory, and Predatory Lending by Banking Agents: Are Federal Regulators Biting Off More than They Can Chew?, 56 Am. U. L. Rev. 515 (2007)
Predatory Lending and the Military: The Law and Geography of "Payday" Loans in Military Towns, co-authored with Stephen Graves, 66 Ohio St. L.J. 653 (2005)
Federalism and Predatory Lending: Unmasking the Deregulatory Agenda, 78 Temp. L. Rev. 1 (2005)
Truth, Understanding, and High Cost Consumer Credit: The Historical Context of the Truth in Lending Act, 55 Fla. L. Rev. 807 (2003)
Comment, Failed Markets, Failing Government, or Both? Learning from the Unintended Consequences of Utah Consumer Credit Law for Vulnerable Debtors, 2001 Utah L. Rev. 543 (winner Bernfeld and Utah Bar writing competitions)
Selected Talks and Presentations
Speaker, Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion and American Credit Pricing Limits, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association & American Council on Consumer Interests 2009 Joint Annual Meeting, Milwaukee, WI, July 2009
Speaker, Usury Law and the Christian Right: Religious Political Power and the Geography of American "Payday" Lending Regulation, Harvard-University of Texas Joint Conference on Commercial Law Realities, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, Feb. 2008
Keynote Speaker, Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Rediscovering a Common Language of Debt, Sagamore Institute, Indianapolis, IN, June 2009
Transnational Consumer Debt Collection, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, India, Feb. 2009
Interviewed Guest, Dave Ramsey Primetime, Fox Business Television Network, Sept. 2008 (television program discussion of usury law and payday lending)
Speaker and Moderator, Foreclosure, Subprime Lending, and the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Teaching Consumer Law Conference, University of Houston Law Center, Houston, TX, May 2008
Speaker, Over-Indebtedness, Predatory Lending, and the International Political Economy of Residential Home Mortgage Securitization: Comparing the United States' Subprime Home Mortgage Lending Crisis to Home Finance in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, American Bar Association Section on Business Law Conference on Globalizing Secured Transactions Law, Thomas Jefferson Law School, San Diego, CA, Mar. 2008
Interviewed Guest, Radio West with Doug Fabrizio, KUER-University of Utah Public Radio, Feb. 2008 (hour long radio broadcast on results of empirical study on payday lender locations)
Participant, 24th Annual Jefferson B. Fordham Debate, University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law, Salt Lake City, UT, Jan. 2008 (arguing in favor of reestablishing traditional usury limits in debate with Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff)
Speaker, Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: An Empirical Analysis of American Credit Pricing Limits, International Research Collaborative on Comparative Consumer Indebtedness, Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, July 2007
Plenary Speaker, The Mythology of American Usury Law, National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, June 2007
Professional Service
Retained as Expert by the Massachusetts Attorney General in Massachusetts v. H&R Block, Inc.; Option One Mortgage Corp., Civil Action No. 08-2474-BLS, November 2010
Witness, Consumer Credit and Debt: The Role of the Federal Trade Commission in Protecting the Public, Hearing Before the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., Mar. 2009
Witness, Hearing on Foreclosed Justice: Causes and Effects of the Foreclosure Crisis, United States House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., 15 December 2010
Invited Speaker, Utah Legislature Public Forum on Dispute Mediation in the Home Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis, Utah State Senate, Salt Lake City, 18 January 2011
Retained as Expert by Mountain State Justice, Inc. in Stalnaker v. Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, et. al., Civil Action No.: 10-C-72, Circuit Court of Jackson County, West Virginia, September 2011
Witness, Testified in Support of House Bill No. 111, Utah House of Representatives, Committee on Business and Labor, Salt Lake City, UT, Mar. 2009 (legislation to re-impose traditional usury limit in Utah)
Witness, Testified in Support of Senate Bill No. 397, Senate Committee on Business, Labor and Economic Affairs, Montana State Legislature, Helena, MT, Feb. 2009 (legislation to re-impose traditional usury limit in Montana)
Witness, Testified in Support of House Bill No. 396, House of Representatives Committee on Business and Labor, Montana State Legislature, Feb. 2009 (legislation to re-impose traditional usury limit in Montana)
Retained as expert by New Jersey Attorney General’s office in Milgram v. Malqui Financial Corporation, Superior Court of New Jersey, Hudson County, N.J., 2008 (case alleging deceptive advertising of tax refund anticipation loans)
Policy Briefing, United States Federal Reserve, Washington, D.C., Apr. 2008 (invited discussion of reform of Truth in Lending and Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act regulations with Fed Governors Krosner and Mishkin)
Witness, Testified in Support of SB216 and in opposition to SB83 on Payday Lender Data Reporting, Utah Senate Business and Labor Committee, Salt Lake City, UT, Feb. 2008
Retained as expert in Morgan v. Advance America, Cash Advance Centers of South Carolina, Inc. et al., Case No.: 07-CP-26-5327 (South Carolina class action lawsuit alleging unconscionability in payday lending transactions)
Professional Affiliations
Utah State Bar Association, 2008-present
International Association for Consumer Law, 2004-present
National Association of Consumer Advocates, 2003-present
Order of the Coif, 2001-present
Utah Association for Justice