BLT: March 2013

     

    Articles

    Business & Corporate

    The Debt Collection Industry and the CFPB: The Beginning of a Supervisory Relationship and Specific Concerns for Attorneys

    The Dodd-Frank Act charges the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) with crafting rules and regulations that deal with so-called "nonbank financial companies." However, for nonbanks, the CFPB generally can supervise only "larger participants." Thus, before the CFPB can supervise and examine these entities, it must create a rule defining entities that are "larger participants" in these markets.

    Business & Corporate

    2012: The CFPB Set Its Sights on Credit Card Companies

    Steven Forry

    Through three significant consent orders against credit card companies in 2012, the Consumer Financial Protective Bureau (CFPB) signaled its intentions to vigorously pursue enforcement actions against marketing practices and debt collection practices that the CFPB deems deceptive, unfair, or abusive. The consent orders with Capital One Bank, Discover Bank, and American Express are essential reading for all companies within the CFPB's jurisdiction.

    Business & Corporate

    To Check or Not to Check: New EEOC Enforcement Guidance on the Use of Criminal History Information in Making Hiring Decisions

    Jon D. Bible

    Roughly 20 years ago, the EEOC enacted guidelines on how employers could comply with Title VII in using criminal history information in making a hiring decision. In April of 2012, the EEOC published new Enforcement Guidance (the Guidance) that goes beyond anything it had previously said. The Guidance focuses on race and national origin discrimination, the Title VII protected classes that the EEOC has decided are most often implicated in the use of criminal history in employment decisions.

    Departments

    Business & Corporate

    KEEPING CURRENT: Ethics Update: Lawyers Must Keep Up With Technology Too

    Lois D. Mermelstein

    The ABA has recently updated several of its Model Rules of Professional Responsibility, including both rules and comments, to better deal with technology and its effects on lawyers' practices. All business lawyers should know what has changed. While the rules are not binding in themselves, they do form the basis of most states' rules governing lawyers. Comments to the rules expand on their meaning and provide additional interpretive guidance.