The National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School is a legal research, education-and-policy center that examines the implications of the jurisprudence of state attorneys general. Working closely with attorneys general, academics and other members of the legal community, the Program is active in the development and dissemination of legal information that state prosecutors are able to use in the carrying out of their civil and criminal responsibilities.
Congratulations to Program Adviser and Lecturer-in-Law Julie Brill, who has been nominated by President Obama for a position as Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission. Brill, currently the Senior Deputy Attorney General and Chief of Consumer Protection and Antitrust at the North Carolina Department of Justice, co-teaches the "Role of the State Attorney General" seminar with Program Director James E. Tierney. Previously, she worked for 21 years as Assistant Attorney General of the Consumer Protection Division at the Vermont Attorney General's Office.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, welcomed the nomination: “Julie Brill’s nomination will be a tonic for an FTC that too often over the last decade has languished while consumers’ interests have given way to special interests.
“Vermont has a vibrant record of consumer and privacy protection second to none, and Julie Brill did a masterful job in defending and renewing those rights. I am especially encouraged by her expertise on antitrust and privacy issues. Though these issues directly affect every American, they have not had the FTC’s full attention for far too long.”
On October 7, the National State Attorneys General Program, in conjunction with the National Association of Attorneys General, presented a conference that brought together the nation's top antitrust officials to discuss new enforcement initiatives and closer cooperation among federal and state antitrust enforcement agencies.
For a comprehensive overview of the summit-style meeting, including coverage of all keynote speakers' and panelists' comments, please view Law.com writer David Hechler's October 12 article, "Come (Back) Together: Antitrust Regulators Heal Old Rifts."
A transcript of the keynote address by Christine A. Varney, Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, at the U.S. Department of Justice has been posted at the USDOJ website.
A study of the nationwide foreclosure crisis, conducted by the University of North Carolina Center for Community Capital and funded by the National State Attorneys General Program, has analyzed the effects of states' anti-predatory lending regulations. The Center has concluded that residents of states with stronger such laws had lower instances of delinquency and foreclosure, that mortgages in these states tended to be safer, and that federal preemption of restrictions against national banks since 2004 has resulted in the significant and disproportionate growth in the share of the subprime lending market by these very large banks.
“State laws can only provide patchy protection if different types of lenders within a state are subject to different rules,” said Center president Roberto G. Quercia. “Based on these results, we recommend that federal regulators set minimum standards -- a floor, rather than a ceiling – and allow states to enact and enforce higher standards if they choose.”
>>AG Program RSS Feed (August 2009) Follow our RSS feed at http://stateag.org/rss for convenient access to AG news, upcoming events, consumer protection updates, and other updates to our website. Many RSS readers, such as Google Reader, are available for free online.
The National State Attorneys General Program was privileged to host a series of guest speakers at Columbia Law School. Guests included the current Attorney General of Montana, Steve Bullock, '94, former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, former New York Attorney General Robert Abrams, former New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey, '84, former New Hampshire Attorney General and Governor Stephen Merrill, and former Deputy White House Counsel and Ohio Solicitor General Professor Bill Marshall.
>>Consumer Protection Update The Program's website now features weekly news updates on attorneys' general activities in the area of consumer protection. Click here for past issues.
Continuing its efforts to provide training and resources to individual state offices, the Program held a regional meeting in the area of Consumer Protection on July 29-30, 2009 in Seattle, Washington.
In April, the Program also hosted two additional meetings on Charities Law and Consumer Protection at different state offices. On April 30- May 1, 2009 the Program's Charities Law Project held a meeting at the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper in Raleigh on charities law enforcement. This meeting brought together representatives from a small number of state offices to discuss the substantive, procedural, and logistical questions they have in working in the area of charities regulation.
In addition, the program, in conjunction with the Center for State Enforcement of Antitrust and Consumer Protection, held a meeting of state officials at the office of Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler in Baltimore on April 2, 2009. The meeting featured over 40 attendees, including state and federal officials specializing in the area of consumer protection.
For more information, please see our recent newsletter. If you would like to keep up to date with the Program's activities, use the form at the bottom of this page to sign up for the newsletter. For older newsletters, see the newsletter archive.
The Program, together with the National Attorneys General Training and Research Institute (NAGTRI), hosted a conference on January 22-24, 2009 for state officials and members of the nonprofit and charitable sector regarding the detection and prevention of charities fraud. For more details as well as background reading materials for attendees, go to the conference home page. Further materials for state officials are available at NASCOnet.
>>Ethics and the Attorney General (June 2009)
In March and June of 2009, Program director James E. Tierney conducted interactive ethics presentations at NAAG's Spring and Summer Meetings. Tierney’s presentations involve substantial discussion from attorneys general, senior assistant attorneys general and former attorneys general. Click here for a copy of Tierney's speech at the June, 2009 meeting. Please check back for an updated video of this year's presentation.
To view other video lessons on the role of attorneys general, click here.
>>Personnel Updates
Program director James E. Tierney testified before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection at the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 24. Tierney spoke regarding the roles of state and federal regulators in combatting abusive lending practices. Additional information about the hearing is available at energycommerce.house.gov.
Click hereto view the video of Tierney's Testimony.
Click here to read Tierney's full testimony (PDF).
Tierney was featured in The New York Times on June 30, remarking on a Supreme Court decision striking down a rule allowing only federal regulators to enforce consumer protection laws against the nation's biggest banks. Tierney noted that the case was "a stinging defeat for the large banks and federal regulators who have worked for years to stop states from enforcing state consumer protection and antidiscrimination laws.”
The April 2009 issue of Governing profiled a wide range of former and current attorneys general in a discussion of the growth and use of the power of the office, in addition to reporting on former AGs who have moved on to other elected offices. Tierney offered his perspective on AGs' roles in settling litigation. The article can be viewed here.
