Jeff Sovern

University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

Michael Millemann Professor of Consumer Protection Law

500 West Baltimore Street

Baltimore, MD 21201-1786

United States

  • University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

SCHOLARLY PAPERS

25

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7,338

TOTAL CITATIONS
Rank 40,237

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Top 40,237

in Total Papers Citations

23

Scholarly Papers (25)

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1.

'Whimsy Little Contracts' with Unexpected Consequences: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Understanding of Arbitration Agreements

75 Maryland Law Review 1 (2015), St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 14-0009
Number of pages: 134 Posted: 01 Nov 2014 Last Revised: 12 Jan 2016
Jeff Sovern, Elayne E. Greenberg, Paul F. Kirgis and Yuxiang Liu
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, St. John's University - School of Law, St. John's University School of Law and St. John's University
Downloads 932 (54,743)
Citation 15

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2.

Law Student Laptop Use During Class for Non-Class Purposes: Temptation v. Incentives

51 University of Louisville Law Review 483 (2013), St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 11-004
Number of pages: 54 Posted: 17 Apr 2011 Last Revised: 13 Jun 2013
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 911 (56,482)

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3.

Towards a New Model of Consumer Protection: The Problem of Inflated Transaction Costs

William & Mary Law Review, Vol. 47, March 2006, St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 05-002
Number of pages: 76 Posted: 13 Jan 2005
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 644 (89,271)
Citation 4

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4.

Preventing Future Economic Crises Through Consumer Protection Law or How the Truth in Lending Act Failed the Subprime Borrowers

Ohio State Law Journal, Vol. 71, p. 761, 2010, St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-0189
Number of pages: 86 Posted: 06 Jan 2010 Last Revised: 09 Jan 2011
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 554 (108,072)

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5.

Recommendations for Online Teaching

St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 20-0012
Number of pages: 34 Posted: 23 Jul 2020
Renee Nicole Allen, Jennifer Baum, Catherine Baylin Duryea, Robert Ruescher, Courtney Selby, Eric W. Shannon, Jeff Sovern and Rachel H. Smith
St. John's University School of Law, St. John's University School of Law, St. John's University School of Law, St. John's University - School of Law, St. John's University - School of Law, St. John's University - School of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and St. John's University School of Law
Downloads 550 (109,042)

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Webex, virtual education, online education, COVID-19, distance learning, synchronous, asynchronous, coronavirus, legal education, law teaching, pedagogy, law school.

6.

Free-Market Failure: The Wells Fargo Arbitration Clause Example

70 Rutgers U.L. Rev. 417 (2018), St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 17-0004
Number of pages: 42 Posted: 02 May 2017 Last Revised: 06 Aug 2018
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 504 (121,480)

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7.

Rankings: A Dramatization of the Incentives Created by Ranking Law Schools

St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-0097
Number of pages: 16 Posted: 26 Feb 2008 Last Revised: 25 May 2008
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 337 (192,791)

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8.

Six Scandals: Why We Need Consumer Protection Laws Instead of Just Markets

St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 21-0001, Forthcoming in the Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review
Number of pages: 64 Posted: 15 Jan 2021 Last Revised: 22 Jun 2022
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 331 (196,586)

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9.

Written Notice of Cooling-Off Periods: A Forty-Year Natural Experiment in Illusory Consumer Protection and the Relative Effectiveness of Oral and Written Disclosures

75 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 333 (2014)
Number of pages: 56 Posted: 11 Jul 2012 Last Revised: 17 Jun 2016
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 279 (235,793)
Citation 3

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consumer protection, cooling-off periods, disclosure

10.

GPT Gets Its First Law School B-pluses

Number of pages: 3 Posted: 16 Feb 2024
Andrew Blair-Stanek, Patricia Campbell, Donald G. Gifford, Guha Krishnamurthi, Robert V. Percival, Jeff Sovern, Maureen Sweeney, Donald B. Tobin and Liza Vertinsky
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, University of Maryland - Francis King Carey School of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and University of Maryland Carey School of Law
Downloads 228 (288,467)

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AI, law

11.

Are Validation Notices Valid? An Empirical Evaluation of Consumer Understanding of Debt Collection Validation Notices

Southern Methodist University Law Review, 2017, Forthcoming, St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 16-0018
Number of pages: 108 Posted: 12 Jul 2016 Last Revised: 26 Jul 2018
Jeff Sovern and Kate Walton
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and St. John's University - Department of Psychology
Downloads 221 (297,238)

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debt collection; debt purchasing; debt buyers; consumer credit; fair debt collection; FDCPA; consumer law, disclosure; consumer understanding

12.

Is Discrimination Unfair?

U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2024-02, 41 Georgia State Law Review 631 (2025)
Number of pages: 66 Posted: 01 Feb 2024 Last Revised: 29 Apr 2025
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 205 (319,272)

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CFPB, FTC, unfair practices, UDAAP, major questions, consumer protection, statutory interpretation, ECOA

13.

The Content of Consumer Law Classes

Journal of Consumer and Commercial Law, Vol. 12, No. 1, St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-0138
Number of pages: 9 Posted: 05 Jun 2008 Last Revised: 10 Dec 2012
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 195 (334,499)

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14.

The Coase Theorem and the Power to Increase Transaction Costs

St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-0160 , McGeorge Law Review, Vol. 40, p. 935, 2009
Number of pages: 13 Posted: 12 Dec 2008 Last Revised: 16 Apr 2010
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 187 (347,642)
Citation 1

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15.

Can Cost-Benefit Analysis Help Consumer Protection Laws? Or at Least Benefit Analysis?

University of California-Irvine Law Review, Forthcoming, St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 13-0011
Number of pages: 25 Posted: 27 Sep 2013 Last Revised: 22 Jul 2015
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 182 (356,285)

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16.

Protecting Privacy with Deceptive Trade Practices Legislation

Fordham Law Review, Vol. 69, p. 1305, 2001, St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 09-0163
Number of pages: 54 Posted: 15 Jan 2009
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 162 (394,697)

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17.

The Jewel of Their Souls: Preventing Identity Theft Through Loss Allocation Rules

University of Pittsburgh Law Review, Vol. 64, p. 343, 2003
Number of pages: 66 Posted: 23 Feb 2009
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 156 (407,564)

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18.

The Content of Consumer Law Classes III

Journal of Consumer & Commercial Law, Vol. 22, Forthcoming 2018, St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 18-0014
Number of pages: 14 Posted: 19 Jul 2018 Last Revised: 30 Aug 2018
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 137 (452,980)

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Consumer Law, Disclosure

19.

The Content of Consumer Law Classes II

Journal of Consumer and Commercial Law, Forthcoming, St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-191
Number of pages: 8 Posted: 14 Aug 2010 Last Revised: 15 Dec 2012
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 134 (461,237)

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20.

Not-So-Smartphone Disclosures

76 Arkansas Law Review 437 (2023), St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 23-0011
Number of pages: 104 Posted: 18 Aug 2022 Last Revised: 26 Apr 2024
Jeff Sovern and Nahal Heydari
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and St. John’s University, Clinical Psychology
Downloads 128 (478,405)

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consumer law, credit cards, disclosure, truth in lending, mobile phones, smart phones

21.

Validation and Verification Vignettes: More Results from an Empirical Study of Consumer Understanding of Debt Collection Validation Notices

Rutgers Law Review, Vol. 71, Forthcoming 2018, St. John's Legal Studies Research Paper No. 18-0016
Number of pages: 98 Posted: 26 Jul 2018 Last Revised: 22 Oct 2019
Jeff Sovern, Kate Walton and Nathan Frishberg
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, St. John's University - Department of Psychology and St. John's University - Department of Psychology
Downloads 116 (516,197)

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debt collection; debt purchasing; debt buyers; consumer credit; fair debt collection; FDCPA; consumer law, disclosure; consumer understanding; Bankruptcy; Reorganization & Creditors eJournal; LSN: Administrative Enforcement (Sub-Topic); LSN

22.

Placing Consumers at the Front of the Relief Effort: Redirecting Credit Card Interest Charges

Hofstra Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2020-04
Number of pages: 4 Posted: 06 Apr 2020 Last Revised: 21 May 2020
Norman I. Silber and Jeff Sovern
Hofstra University - Maurice A. Deane School of Law and University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 85 (638,187)

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credit card, COVID, coronavirus, interest charges, banks, financial institutions

23.

Who Teaches Consumer Law?

U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2024–14, 28 Journal of Consumer & Commercial Law, no. 1, 2025, at 2.
Number of pages: 17 Posted: 22 Jul 2024 Last Revised: 05 May 2025
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 65 (741,506)

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24.

The FAA Should Not Cover Consumer Claims

The Federal Arbitration Act: Successes, Failures, and a Roadmap for Reform (Richard A. Bales & Jill I. Gross eds., forthcoming 2024 Cambridge University Press), U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2023-21
Number of pages: 21 Posted: 13 Dec 2023
Jeff Sovern
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Downloads 57 (792,919)

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consumer protection, class actions, arbitration clauses, claim suppression, CFPB, underenforcement, arbitration regulation, consumer financial contracts

25.

Consumer Law Scholars’ Response to Proposed Rules on Debt Collection Practices (Reg F)

Number of pages: 30 Posted: 10 Apr 2024
Gina M. Calabrese, Judith L. Fox, Dalié Jiménez, Neil L. Sobol, Jeff Sovern and Mary Spector
St. John's University - School of Law, Notre Dame Law School, University of California, Irvine School of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and Southern Methodist University - Dedman School of Law
Downloads 38 (950,723)

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debt collection, cfpb, debt