Editor’s Introduction: The Broad Scope of Consumer Protection

from The Marin Lawyer June 2021

President’s Message: A Few Things to Be Proud of this June (and a Few Not to Be

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

The Broad Scope of Consumer Protection

ROBERT ROSBOROUGH

The term “consumer protection” often conjures images of a recalled product or a warning label but it encompasses a wide array of laws and regulations. Especially with our pandemic-driven, increasingly online lives, consumer protection encompasses data privacy and security as they become ever more important for our clients, our firms and ourselves. Celine Guillou gives us a handy primer on the regulation of personal information and Credit: Kameleon007 Getty Images Signature Canva Pro how organizations should approach protect- combatting price gouging in the county. ing it. (For an excellent primer on protecting MCBA board member Mary Sackett sheds your own personal information, see George some light on how this little-known agency Usi’s article from our March issue.) protects consumers by regulating prices and Consumer protection also extends to the packaging whether we’re in a pandemic or challenging and often heartbreaking arena of not. elder scams. Cheating elders out of their sav- I think it is fair to say that the pandemic is not ings is an enormous industry, estimated at related to the retirement of our beloved Pubwell over $30 billion annually. By far the most lic Defender Jose Varela. MCBA board memeffective way to reduce the damage is by rais- ber Karthik Raju profiles Jose, concentrating ing awareness. Ella Krainsky, from the Marin on the innovative approach Jose has taken District Attorney’s Consumer Protection throughout his career, and giving us an inUnit, educates us on some of the “popular” sightful glimpse of a remarkable lawyer, percurrent elder scams and where to turn when son and poet. And I promise that Karthik someone has been victimized by one. wrote the article after Jose stopped being The pandemic reminded us of another way Karthik’s boss! the unscrupulous take advantage of consum- If you missed (or even if you didn’t) MCBA’s ers: price gouging. I bet that most of you are May Town Hall with Judges Sweet, Adams, not aware that Marin’s own Division of and Freccero regarding how Marin’s courts Weights and Measures is responsible for are faring under pandemic restrictions and

what may be coming next, Deputy D.A. Andy Perez recaps the event, including questions and answers, so that you can be up to speed on how our courts are operating. Finally, we profile Michelle Christovich, business attorney and chair of MCBA’s Barristers Section. Get to know Michelle and see what’s in store for the Barristers.

I hope to see many of you in person sometime this summer, which I am very much looking forward to, even if I’m not entirely ready to give up the convenience of Zoom. If you have thoughts about how we hold in-person events but still utilize platforms like Zoom to enable some members to participate remotely, we’d love to hear from you with your ideas. With summer nearly upon us and pandemic restrictions easing, we've kept this issue short so that you can reacquaint yourself with the wider world. I wish everyone an enjoyable summer, whatever that may look like⎯we’ll be back in September with our next quarterly issue of the Marin Lawyer.

View this article at Marinbar.org

Rob Rosborough is Of Counsel to Monty White LLP. He mediates disputes where an ongoing relationship is at stake, particularly adult-family conflict such as disagreement over caring for an aging parent, and HOA disputes. He also maintains an estate planning and HOA practice. Rob teaches at USF’s Fromm Institute (conflict resolution and history of science) and helps lawyers cope with the practice of law by teaching them meditation skills as a certified iRest® meditation teacher. EMAIL | WEBSITE