Alan Kaplinsky Wins National Law Review Go-To Thought Leadership Award

Alan S. Kaplinsky, who leads Ballard Spahr's nationally recognized Consumer Financial Services Group, was recently awarded the National Law Review's Go-To Thought Leadership Award in Consumer Finance for his work on the firm's Consumer Finance Monitor blog.

Mr. Kaplinsky was one of just 65 authors from around the country to receive the award, which recognizes contributors for their reporting of complex legislative and litigation news, as well as their strategic insight and overall knowledge of the legal industry. He was one of five authors who received the award in the finance category and the only author to receive an award for a blog focusing on consumer financial services.

The Consumer Finance Monitor, launched in 2011 as the CFPB Monitor with the purpose of reporting developments out of the then-new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, was the firm's first blog. In 2017, the blog expanded to include coverage of other federal and state agencies. It has been named multiple times to the American Bar Association's Blawg 100 list of the country's best legal blogs.

The National Law Review said that Mr. Kaplinsky's coverage of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and litigation surrounding consumer finance, sometimes several posts a day, helps readers stay informed on this constantly shifting topic.

Mr. Kaplinsky, whose clients include many of the world's largest financial institutions, is a recognized leader in consumer finance law. He is one of only a few lawyers to be routinely ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the area of consumer financial services regulation. Chambers calls him "a guru of consumer financial services on both the regulatory and litigation sides" and "the gold standard in consumer financial services." In 2016, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers and, in 2015, was honored with the National Law Journal Litigation Trailblazers Award for his pioneering work related to consumer arbitration and class action waivers.

Last September, Mr. Kaplinsky and the members of the Consumer Financial Services Group launched a weekly podcast to supplement the Consumer Finance Monitor, and the Group's alerts and webinars. The podcast—also called Consumer Finance Monitor—covers the full range of developments pertaining to consumer financial services. It is available on Apple iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Ballard Spahr's website.

Ballard Spahr's Consumer Financial Services Group is among the largest and best regarded in the legal industry. Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business consistently ranks the firm in the highest tier nationally in the category of Financial Services Regulation: Consumer Finance (Compliance and Litigation) and Law360 recognized it as a Banking Group of the Year. The Group includes 11 members of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers, including its first president, Mr. Kaplinsky, and two recipients of its Lifetime Achievement Award.