DICKINSON LAW PROFESSOR KATHERINE C. PEARSON CITED BY CONSUMER PROTECTION BUREAU
September 2022 — In advance of a hearings held on September 8 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Bureau released its “Issue Spotlight” report, citing Penn State Dickinson Law Professor Katherine C. Pearson’s research on nursing home debt collection issues, including her article published in the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform on “The Responsible Thing to Do about Responsible Party Provisions in Nursing Home Agreements.” Professor Pearson has deep experience in the field of elder law. She is the author of articles and book chapters on long-term care, financing issues, and filial obligations, and is the co-author of The Law of Financial Abuse and Exploitation (Bisel 2011) — a book about protection of vulnerable persons from financial exploitation.
Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s Office of Financial Protection for Older Americans to help older consumers make sound financial decisions as they age, identify and address emerging consumer protection risks, and coordinate these consumer protection efforts with other Federal agencies and State regulators to promote consistent, effective, and efficient enforcement. The Office works to find systemic fixes to emerging risks.
Professor Katherine Pearson has deep experience in the field of elder law. She is the author of articles and book chapters on long-term care, financing issues, and filial obligations, and is the co-author of The Law of Financial Abuse and Exploitation (Bisel 2011) — a book about protection of vulnerable persons from financial exploitation. A former Fulbright Scholar (U.K., Queens University Belfast, 2010), Professor Pearson’s work includes international, comparative analysis of laws, and policies affecting older persons, including work as an international research consultant in the U.K. and Northern Ireland to promote better systems for safeguarding and adult social care.
Professor Pearson has served in leadership positions on national and state organizations for academics and attorneys specializing in elder law, including the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the AALS Section on Law and Aging, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association Elder Law Section. She was a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Elder Law Task Force that issued an influential report. She currently is the Project Lead on a $500,000 Penn State Strategic Plan grant entitled The Pennsylvania Adult-Fiduciary Project: Developing Statewide Online Education in Support of Aging and Vulnerable Adults designed to develop resources for Pennsylvania judges. For more than ten years, she served as director of Penn State’s Elder Protection Clinic.