Alan Kaplinsky


Alan S. Kaplinsky is an American lawyer. He heads the consumer financial services practice at Ballard Spahr. Kaplinsky "pioneered the use of pre-dispute arbitration provisions in consumer contracts" and has written and lectured extensively on the subject. He is a founding author of , a blog that delivers news and guidance related to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The blog was named one of the 100 best law blogs in the nation by the American Bar Association for 2012 and for 2013. , a leading law firm ranking organization, noted that "Kaplinsky has been fundamental to response and guidance in relation to CFPB compliance and enforcement matters."

Career

After graduating from Boston College Law School in 1970, Kaplinsky clerked for Judge John Biggs, Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit before joining the Philadelphia law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen.
In 1995, Kaplinsky joined Ballard Spahr LLP along with several colleagues from Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen to found a consumer financial services practice at Ballard Spahr. Kaplinsky is best known for pioneering the use of arbitration provisions in the consumer finance area, including credit cards and auto loans. He is the first lawyer in the country to include class action waiver language in consumer arbitration clauses that require consumers to individually arbitrate any dispute.

Academia, law reform work, and board memberships

Kaplinsky was the first president of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers and chair of the Committee on Consumer Financial Services of the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association. He has chaired the Practising Law Institute’s Annual Institute on Consumer Financial Services since its inception in 1995.
Kaplinsky was elected to the American Law Institute in 2006 and in 2012 was named an Adviser on the Restatement Third, The Law of Consumer Contracts.
In 2014, Kaplinsky was named to the Board of Directors of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, whose mission is "to preserve, promote, and present jazz by inspiring knowledge, appreciation and celebration of jazz locally, nationally, and internationally."