University of Utah : S.J. Quinney College of Law

Christopher Peterson

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

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.

Scholarship Highlights

Books

TAMING THE SHARKS: TOWARDS A CURE FOR THE HIGH COST CREDIT MARKET (University of Akron Press, 2004)

Honors and Awards

Outstanding Consumer Finance Law Review Article of the Year, American College of Consumer Financial Services Attorneys, 2007

National Consumer Advocate of the Year, National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators, 2007

Outstanding Consumer Finance Book of the Year, American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers, 2004

Winner of the Joseph Bernfeld Bankruptcy Law Writing Competition, 2002

Legal Writing

Foreclosure, Subprime Mortgage Lending, and the Mortgage Electronic Registration System,  UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI LAW REVIEW  (forthcoming 2010)

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Home Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis,  10 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS JOURNAL OF PUBLIC INTEREST LAW 149 (2009) (Symposium)


The Political Economy of Consumer Credit Securitization: Comparing Predatory Lending in Home Finance in the US, UK, Germany and Japan, in CONSUMRER CREDIT, DEBT & BANKRUPTCY: COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES 31 (Johanna Niemi, Ian Ramsay and William Whitford, eds., Hart Publishing Co., 2009)

Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion in American Credit Pricing Limits, 92 MINNESOTA LAW REVIEW 1110 (2008)

Usury Law and the Christian Right: Faith Based Political Power and the Geography of American Payday Lending Regulation, 57 CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 637 (2008) (with Steven Graves)

Predatory Structured Finance, 28 CARDOZO LAW REVIEW 2185 (2007)

Preemption, Agency Cost Theory, and Predatory Lending by Banking Agents: Are Federal Regulators Biting Off More than They Can Chew? 56 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 515 (2007)


Predatory Lending and the Military: The Law and Geography of "Payday" Loans in Military Towns, 66 OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 653 (2005) (with Steven Graves)


Federalism and Predatory Lending: Unmasking the Deregulatory Agenda, 78 TEMPLE LAW REVIEW 1 (2005)


Truth, Understanding, and High Cost Consumer Credit: The Historical Context of the Truth in Lending Act, 55 FLORIDA LAW REVIEW 807 (2003)

Miscellaneous

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., 24 March 2009

Witness, Testified in Support of House Bill No. 111, Utah House of Representatives, Committee on Business and Labor, Salt Lake City, UT, 3 March 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, 13 February 2009 (legislation to re-impose traditional usury limit in Montana)

Speaker, Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion and American Credit Pricing Limits, Compassion in Action Roundtable: Financial Literacy and the Role of Faith Based and Community Organizations, The White House, Washington, D.C., 18 June 2008

Policy Briefing on Subprime Mortgage Lending Regulatory Policy, United States Federal Reserve, Washington, D.C., 25 April 2008

Witness, Turmoil in Subprime Mortgage Lending and the Role of Securitization, Hearing Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Investments, Securities, and Insurance, Washington, D.C., 17 April 2007

Witness, A Review of the Department of Defense’s Report on Predatory Lending Practices Directed at Members of the Armed Forces and Their Dependents, Hearing Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Washington, D.C., 14 September 2006

Talks & Presentations

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, 27 July 2009

Keynote Speaker, Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Rediscovering a Common Language of Debt, Sagamore Institute, Indianapolis, IN, 24 June 2009

Transnational Consumer Debt Collection, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, India, 26 February 2009

Interviewed Guest, Montana Community Foundation with Linda Reed, Helena Community Television, 12 February 2009 (half-hour public television civic affairs program)

Keynote Address, Understanding and Addressing the Subprime Mortgage Lending Crisis, Utah Association of Counties 84th Annual Convention, St. George, Utah, 13 November 2008

Blaming the Prime Mortgage Market Infrastructure for a Subprime Market Crisis: The Politics of Home Foreclosure and the Government Sponsored Enterprises, Predatory Lending and Its Impact on the Consumer Credit Market Symposium, Loyola University New Orleans, School of Law, 17 October 2008

Mortgage Broker Compensation and the Subprime Foreclosure Crisis, The Subprime Housing Crisis: Interdisciplinary Policy Perspectives Conference, University of Iowa, 10 October 2008

The Role of Securitization in Residential Mortgage Finance, National Convening on Subprime Lending, Foreclosure and Race, Kirwan institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2 October 2008

Interviewed Guest, Dave Ramsey Primetime, Fox Business Television Network, 9 September 2008

Speaker and Moderator, Foreclosure, Subprime Lending, and the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Teaching Consumer Law Conference, University of Houston Law Center, Houston, TX, 23 May 2008

Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion and American Credit Pricing Limits, Confronting the Debt Culture National Conference, Washington, D.C., 13 May 2008

Speaker and Moderator, Foreclosure, Subprime Lending, and the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Research in Predatory Lending Conference, Seton Hall School of Law, Newark, N.J, 8 May 2008

Interviewed Guest, Utah Now, KUED Utah Public Television, 18 April 2008

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, 14 March 2008

Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion and American Credit Pricing Limits, University of New Mexico College of Law Faculty Colloquium Series, Albuquerque, NM, 12 March 2008

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, 29 February 2008

Interviewed Guest, Access Utah, Public Affairs Radio Call-In Show, Utah Public Radio, 27 February 2008

Interviewed Guest, Radio West with Doug Fabrizio, Public Affairs Call-in Show, KUER-University of Utah Public Radio, 20 February 2008

Interviewed Guest, Midday Metro, KCPW: Salt Lake City Community Radio, 15 February 2008

Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion and American Credit Pricing Limits, New York University School of Law Law and Economics Student and Faculty Colloquium Series, New York, NY, 12 February 2008

24th Annual Jefferson B. Fordham Debate, University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law, Salt Lake City, UT, 29 January 2008 (arguing in favor of reestablishing traditional usury limits in debate against Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff)

Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion and American Credit Pricing Limits, Second Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, New York University School of Law, New York, NY, 9 November 2007

Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion and American Credit Pricing Limits, California Consumer Affairs Association 33rd Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA, 8 November 2007

Subprime Lending Challenges: How We Got Here and Where do We Go Next, Iowa Finance Authority’s Annual Housing Iowa Conference, Des Moines, IA, 23 October 2007

Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion and American Credit Pricing Limits, University of Florida, Levin College of Law Faculty Colloquium Series, Gainesville, FL, 11 October 2007

Interviewed Guest, The Dave Ramsey Show, Nationally Syndicated Radio Program, 25 September 2007

Usury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion and American Credit Pricing Limits, University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law Faculty Colloquium Series, Salt Lake City, UT, 19 September 2007

Subprime Mortgage Lending, Securitization, and Federal Consumer Protection Legislation, National Association of Consumer Advocates Home Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Conference, St. Louis, MO, 7 September 2007

A Comparative Analysis of the U.S. Subprime Home Mortgage Lending Crisis, Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, 28 July 2007

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, 28 July 2007

Plenary Speaker, The Mythology of American Usury Law, National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 19 June 2007

Predatory Structured Finance, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, 28 February 2007

The Financial Mythology of American Usury Law, Ohio State University, Mortiz College of Law, Columbus, Ohio, April 2, 2007

Usury Law and the Christian Right: Religious Political Power and the Geography of “Payday” Lending Regulation, Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, Washington, D.C., 22 January 2007

Consumer Law, the Yeas and Nays of Visually Impaired Consumers Signing Documents They Have Not Read, American Association of Visually Impaired Attorneys Annual Conference, Jacksonville, FL, 11 July 2006

Roundtable Participant, Comparative Perspectives in Consumer Insolvency, Law and Society Association Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD, 9 July 2006

Consumer Protection Challenges for Senior Citizens, Elder Law Symposium, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 7 April 2006

Radio Debate Participant, Debate Against Clemson University Professor of Economics on Payday Loans and the Efficacy of Usury Law, Access Utah, Utah Public Radio, 14 December 2006

Moderator and Speaker, Teaching Consumer Law, National Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, Miami, FL, 10 November 2006

Consumer Protection Jurisprudence without Consumer Protection Law: The Unstated Law and Facts of Cartegna v. Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc., Panel on: Consumer Arbitration, Separability, and Preemption of State Law, Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Conference, Palm Beach, Florida, 20 July 2006

Plenary Speaker, The Law and Geography of Predatory Lending to Military Personnel, National Conference of Consumer Agency Administrators Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, 21 June 2006

Moderator and Speaker, Securitization of Consumer Credit: Emerging Regulatory Issues and Challenges, Teaching Consumer Law Biannual Conference, University of Houston, 19 May 2006

Preemption, Agency Cost Theory, and Predatory Lending by Banking Agents: Are Federal Regulators Biting Off More than They Can Chew?, Federal Preemption in the Financial Institutions Arena Symposium, Texas Tech University School of Law, Lubbock, Texas, 19 April 2006

Interviewed Guest, Law Matters, WUFT Television, 26 January 2006

Deregulation and its Impact on Households, the Economy, and the Lending Industry, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, New York City, 20 January 2006

Lecturer, American Law Certificate Program, University of Warsaw, Poland, October 2005 (taught two week course on American consumer protection law)

Debtor Protection Law in World History: Finding the Right Balance, Common Law Society Lecture Series, University of Warsaw, Poland, 19 Oct. 2005

Predatory Lending, Securitization, and the Assignment of Blame in Federal Systems, Credit Law Institute Global Issues in Law and Finance Conference Part II, Zurich, Switzerland, 6 July 2005

Taming the Sharks: Towards a Cure for the High Cost Credit Market, Credit Law Institute Global Issues in Law and Finance Conference Part I, London, United Kingdom, 29 June 2005

Panelist, Legislative Initiatives to Combat Predatory Lending, Florida Bar Association Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, 23 June 2005

Overview of Law Challenging Predatory Lending Practices, Florida Bar Association Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, 23 June 2005

Information Based Regulation of Consumer Credit in the Information Age, 10th International Consumer Rights Congress, Lima, Peru, 5 May 2005

Predatory Lending and the Military: The Law and Geography of “Payday” Loans in Military Towns, Faculty Colloquium Series, University of Houston Law Center, Houston, TX, 31 March 2005

Interviewed Guest, The Fanny Brown Show, Public Affairs Radio Call-in Show, WAKR-1590, Akron, OH, 17 October 2004

Securitization and Predatory Lending: Understanding Contemporary Home Mortgage Securities Conduits, Combating Predatory Consumer Practices Conference, Tampa, FL, 28 January 2005

Predatory Lending and Wall Street, University of Florida Presidential Inaugural Celebration Academic Symposium, Gainesville, FL, 9 September 2004

Creditor Malpractice Insurance, Predatory Home Mortgage Lending, and Federalism, South Eastern Association of Law Schools Annual Conference, Kiawah Island, S.C., 30 July 2004

Interviewed Guest, Conner Calling, Literature and Public Affairs Radio Call-in Show, WUFT-FM 89.1/WRUF-AM 850, 6 June 2004

Traps for the Unwary: Common Consumer Scams Targeting Senior Citizens, Three Rivers Legal Services Caregiver Forum on Seniors, Grandparents and the Law, Gainesville, FL, 22 November 2003

Thwarting Predatory Lenders: A Survey of Litigation Theory, Predatory Lending Skills Workshop, Gainesville, FL, 14 November 2003

Consumer Perspectives on the Development of Class Action Law in Thailand, American Bar Association Asia Law Initiative, Washington, D.C., 5 February 2003

Interviewed Guest, Charlie Warren Show, Public Affairs Call-In Show, WAML Radio, Washington, D.C., 4 March 2003

Interest Group Participation Inside Washington: The Case of Predatory Lending, Goizeta Business School, Emory University Washington MBA Seminar, Washington, D.C., 16 January 2003

Irrational Preference Ordering in the High Cost Credit Market, Seattle University School of Law, Seattle, WA, 19 November 2002

Towards a Cure for the High Cost Credit Market, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Government, Chapel Hill, NC, 2002