Alan Kaplinsky to Testify Before U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee

Alan S. Kaplinsky, who leads Ballard Spahr's nationally recognized Consumer Financial Services Group, will testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Tuesday, April 2, at 10 a.m. EST.

Mr. Kaplinsky will join other legal and industry thought leaders in offering testimony for the Committee's "Arbitration in America" hearing. The hearing, the Committee's first on the topic since 2013, is expected to be informational in nature and will be live-streamed.

Mr. Kaplinsky has been a leading advocate of arbitration as an alternative to costly and protracted court litigation. He pioneered the use of arbitration clauses in consumer financial services agreements. Nearly 20 years ago, he began drafting such clauses for his financial services clients and their use quickly spread throughout the industry and beyond.

Mr. Kaplinsky, who also has testified before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau several times on arbitration and class action waivers, has represented clients in significant lawsuits concerning the enforceability of arbitration clauses with class action waivers, including the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision upholding such clauses, AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion. In 2015, he was honored with the National Law Journal Litigation Trailblazers Award for his pioneering work related to consumer arbitration and class action waivers.

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.

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 last year. The Group includes 11 members of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers, including Mr. Kaplinsky, who served as its first president.