On September 1, Professor Bob Lawless sat down with ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano to record a podcast. Lawless, who is currently serving as the Reporter for the ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy, provided a recap of Commission activity to date and previewed future work by the Commission. 

Gerdano opened the discussion with the question, "Why study consumer bankruptcy, and why now in particular?"

Lawless responded, "This year there are about a million people who will go through the bankruptcy system. It's the part of the federal court system that an everyday person is most likely to have contact with...In many ways it's one of our nation's largest social services systems, to provide people with debt relief who are in over their heads financially."

He continued, "The law that we're dealing with, as probably everyone that is listening to the podcast knows, was passed in 1978. By the time the report is released, the law will be 40 years old."

Lawless claims that despite revisions to the law in 2005, because of changes in lending practices and debt collection practices over the years, many of the provisions in the law are not addressing the problems that are arising in 2017.

Full podcast available at ABI.org