Professor of Law
A.B., J.D. Columbia University.
Jeff Sovern is a Professor of Law at St. John’s University in New
York City where he teaches Civil Procedure, Consumer Protection
and Introduction to Law. The New York Times has called
him "
an expert in consumer law," a statement echoed by the Chicago
Tribune.
Professor Sovern writes for three overlapping
audiences. For the public, he has published numerous op-eds,
including essays in
The New York Times (twice), the
Christian Science Monitor, the
American Banker (
here and
here), the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (
here, here, here, here,
here and
here),
The New York Daily News,
The Hill (
here,
here,
here, and
here),
CNN.com, Politico,
Commonweal, and
a variety of blogs. Professor Sovern can be heard on
public radio's
Academic Minute and discussing privacy issues during an
hour-long interview on the University of California—Irvine’s radio
show “Privacy
Policy” initially broadcast on July 26, 2006. He
has also published 36 letters in The New York Times. He has been
quoted in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News
and World Reports, Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York
Daily News, The Oregonian, The Huffington Post, the ABA
Journal EReports, by the Associated Press, and on CBS
News.
Professor Sovern also writes for law students. He co-authored a
casebook titled Consumer Law: Cases and Materials (3d ed. 2007
Thomson/West) with Professors John A. Spanogle, Ralph J. Rohner,
and Dee Pridgen with whom he also co-editedSelected Consumer
Statutes(2007, 2009, and 2011 editions). He is
currently working with his co-authors (including new co-author
Christopher Peterson) on the fourth edition of the casebook, which
is scheduled to be published in time for fall 2013
classes. His study of student
laptop use during classes is scheduled to appear in the
University of Louisville Law Review in 2013.
Finally, Professor Sovern writes for law professors, judges,
lawyers, and other academics interested in consumer
issues. His scholarly writings have appeared in the Wisconsin
Law Review, Fordham
Law Review, Washington Law Review, William
and Mary Law Review, Ohio
State Law Journal (twice), The Business Lawyer, Federal
Rules Decisions, the
University of Pittsburgh Law Review, Missouri Law Review, McGeorge
Law Review, DePaul Law Review, Advancing the Consumer Interest,
the Annual Review of Banking Law, Columbia Journal of Law and
Social Problems, Journal of Consumer Affairs, the Journal of
Commercial and Consumer Law (twice), and the Encyclopedia of
Housing. He is a co-coordinator of the Consumer Law and
Policy Blog, which can be read at www.clpblog.org, and the
co-editor of the Consumer Law Abstracts Journal for the Social
Science Research Network, available at www.ssrn.com. His writings
have been referred to in numerous casebooks, treatises, law review
articles, and court decisions. The American Council on Consumer
Interests awarded Professor Sovern the Russell A. Dixon Prize in
2002 and the 2010 Applied Consumer Economics Award. He
has spoken at the University of California-Irvine, the Conference
of the American Association of Law Schools (twice), the National
Consumer Law Center’s Consumer Rights Litigation
Conference, the University of Houston's Conference on
Teaching Consumer Law (multiple times), the Practicing Law
Institute's Consumer Financial Services Institute, the Summer
Judicial Seminar for New York State Judges, the Annual Conference
of the American Council on Consumer Interests, the New York City
Consumer Debt Working Conference, and the Privacy Law Scholars
Conference, among other events. Professor Sovern has served
as Reporter to the Eastern District Discovery Oversight Committee
and on committees of the American and New York State Bar
Associations and the Association of the Bar of the City of New
York.
Before joining the law faculty, Professor Sovern served as a law
clerk to Judge Frank A. Kaufman of the United States District Court
for the District of Maryland and practiced law in the litigation
department of a major New York City law firm. He holds A.B.
and J.D. degrees from Columbia University.