Alan Kaplinsky
Alan S. Kaplinsky | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Alan Stuart Kaplinsky December 1, 1945 |
Nationality | American |
Education | University of Pennsylvania (BS) Boston College (JD)[1] |
Occupation | Lawyer |
Spouse | Ellen |
Children | 3 |
Alan Stuart Kaplinsky[2] (born December 1, 1945) is an American lawyer. He heads the consumer financial services practice at Ballard Spahr. Kaplinsky "pioneered the use of pre-dispute arbitration provisions in consumer contracts"[3] and has written and lectured extensively on the subject.[4] He was instrumental in launching his firm’s blog and podcast series, Consumer Finance Monitor, devoted to the activities of the CFPB as well as federal and state agencies and attorneys general and other significant consumer financial services developments.[5] The blog was named one of the 100 best law blogs in the nation by the American Bar Association for 2012-2016.[6] He has been named as a tier one banking and consumer financial services lawyer in the 2006-2020 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, a directory of America’s leading lawyers. Chambers refers to him as "its leading light for CFPB compliance matters" and calls him "a guru of consumer financial services on both the regulatory and litigation sides [who has] earned his well-deserved national reputation when successfully defending the very first class actions brought against financial institutions."[7] He has also been named in The Best Lawyers in America under financial services regulation law and banking and finance litigation from 2007-2019.[8]
Career
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967 and Boston College Law School in 1970,[9] Kaplinsky clerked for Judge John Biggs, Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit before joining the Philadelphia law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen. From 1976 to 1979, he served as General Counsel of the Teachers Service Organization, Inc.[10]
In 1995, Kaplinsky joined Ballard Spahr LLP[11] along with several colleagues from Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen to found a consumer financial services practice at Ballard Spahr. Kaplinsky is best known for pioneering the use of arbitration provisions in the consumer finance area, including credit cards and auto loans. He is the first lawyer in the country to include class action waiver language in consumer arbitration clauses that require consumers to individually arbitrate any dispute.[12]
Academia, law reform work, and board memberships
Kaplinsky was the first president of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers (1996–1998) and in April of 2016, he received the American College’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is granted periodically to a person whose career has produced significant contributions to the field of consumer financial services law. He is past chair of the Committee on Consumer Financial Services of the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association. [13] He has chaired the Practising Law Institute’s Annual Institute on Consumer Financial Services since its inception in 1995.[14] Kaplinsky was elected to the American Law Institute in 2006 and in 2012 was named an Adviser on the Restatement Third, The Law of Consumer Contracts.[15]
Kaplinsky was named to the National Law Journal’s 2015 list of Litigation Trailblazers for pioneering work in the area of consumer arbitration and the use of class action waivers.[16]
He was featured in the November 1, 2015 New York Times lead front page article about pioneering class action waivers in consumer arbitration provisions.[17]
In April 2019, Mr. Kaplinsky testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on “Arbitration in America.”[18]
Kaplinsky was selected for his work on the Consumer Finance Monitor blog for the National Law Review’s 2018 Go-To Thought Leadership Award to honor excellence in legal news and analysis.[19]
Personal life
He and his wife Ellen have three children.[10]
References
- ^ "Alumni - Notes". Pennsylvania Gazette. July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- ^ Boston College Bulletin, Law, 1971
- ^ "Alan S. Kaplinsky". American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. Archived from the original on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
- ^ "Alan S. Kaplinsky". Practising Law Institute. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
- ^ "About CFPB Monitor Blog". Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ "The 2013 ABA Journal Blawg 100". Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ "Alan S Kaplinsky". Chambers & Partners. 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ "Best Lawyers® - Purely Peer Review™". www.bestlawyers.com. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
- ^ "Alan S. Kaplinsky - Lawyer Profile". LexisNexis. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
- ^ a b American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers Senator William Proxmire Lifetime Achievement Award Presented on April 9, 2016 to ALAN S. KAPLINSKY
- ^ Julie Stoiber (24 January 1996). "Five More Lawyers Resign From Wolf Block Steven Arbittier And Alan Kaplinsky Head The Group Going To Ballard Spahr. The Resignations Aren't Over". philly.com. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
- ^ Mickey Meece (11 January 2012). "Arbitration Is Here to Stay and One Lawyer Says That Is Good for Consumers". Forbes. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
- ^ "ACCFSL - American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers". www.accfsl.org. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
- ^ "Alan S. Kaplinsky - Practising Law Institute". www.pli.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
- ^ "The American Law Institute - Restatement Third, The Law of Consumer Contracts Members--". web.archive.org. 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
- ^ "Litigation_Trailblazers_2015". pdfserver.amlaw.com. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
- ^ Silver-Greenberg, Jessica; Gebeloff, Robert (2015-10-31). "Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice (Published 2015)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
- ^ "Arbitration in America | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary". www.judiciary.senate.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
- ^ "2018 National Law Review Thought Leadership Awards | The National Law Review". www.natlawreview.com. Retrieved 2020-12-30.