Spring 2012 Florida State Law magazine - Florida State University ...

Alumni Focus
Christi Adams:
The Pauline Revere of Dodd-Frank
By Christi N. Morgan
As a national expert on Dodd-Frank’s consumer
protection laws and the Truth in
Lending Act, Christi Adams (’01) practices
cutting-edge corporate law. The lone female partner
in Foley & Lardner’s Orlando office spends her days
counseling clients on Dodd-Frank and defending
many of the nation’s largest financial institutions
against consumer claims in federal court.
“There are never two days that are the same,
ever,” said Adams, who clerked for Florida Supreme
Court Chief Justice Charles Wells during her 3L
year. “Although I am dealing with the same laws,
how they apply in every situation is going to be
different. In my mind, you can appear a lot smarter
than you are just by knowing the law, because not
a lot of people know it.”
Although Adams downplays the intricacies
of her Dodd-Frank knowledge, it is obvious that
she has mastered the nuances of the act Congress
passed in 2010.
Recently, she spent two years traveling the
United States to conduct arbitrations on behalf of
one of the largest consumer banks in the world. At
issue was the definition of a finance charge. To others
outside of her business, that might not seem like
an extremely important issue when you are looking
at it for one consumer case, but to Adams’ clients, it
could have an enormous impact.
“If a bank is not in compliance,
they have to change their policies
for their millions of clients,” said
Adams. “It becomes a huge issue
for them.”
10 Florida State Law