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." 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-edited Selected Consumer Statutes
(2007, 2009, and 2011 editions). He is also 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 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 has also published essays in The New York
Times, the
Christian Science Monitor, the
American Banker, the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (here, here, here and
here),
the New York Daily News,
The Hill (
here,
here, and
here),
CNN.com, Politico and
a variety of blogs. 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.
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 spoken at 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. 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. He has also published 27 letters in The New York
Times.
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 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.