Financial Precarity in the 
United States 

A Discussion of Debt’s Grip: 
Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy

Friday, October 10, 2025

Larry Walker Room, Dean Rusk Hall
University of Georgia School of Law

This conference celebrates the publication of Debt’s Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy (University of California Press, 2025), co-authored by Pamela Foohey, Robert M. Lawless and Deborah Thorne. The conference will bring together the book's authors and thought leaders from a variety of fields for a day filled with discussion and insights about household financial precarity in the United States. Debt’s Grip uses original data from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, a long-term study of the people who file bankruptcy, to lay bare the consequences of risk privatization and to show why so many families struggle in today’s economy.  

The conference features three panels—debt and financial distress, barriers that people face getting help, and the consumer bankruptcy system—plus a lunchtime keynote. 

To register, please RSVP to Shawn Lanphere, shawlan@uga.edu. Please direct questions about this conference to Pamela Foohey, pamela.foohey@uga.edu.
 

Speakers

• Adrienne Adams, Professor, Michigan State University, Department of Psychology
• Stephanie Ben-Ishai, York University Distinguished Research Professor, York University, Osgoode Hall Law School
• Dov Cohen, Professor, University of Illinois, Department of Psychology
• Pamela Foohey, Allen Post Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law
• Sara Sternberg Greene, Katharine T. Bartlett Distinguished Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law
• Christopher D. Hampson, Assistant Professor, University of Florida Levin College of Law
• Robert M. Lawless, Max L. Rowe Professor of Law, University of Illinois College of Law
• Angela Littwin, Charles Sapp Chair in Banking, Financial, Commercial and Corporate Law, University of Texas School of Law
• Mike Pierce, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Student Borrower Protection Center
• Rebecca Sandefur, School Director and Professor, Arizona State University, Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics
• Lindsey Simon, Associate Professor, Emory University School of Law
• Deborah Thorne, Professor, University of Idaho, Department of Culture, Society & Justice
• Tara Twomey, former Director, United States Trustee Program
• Kathryne Young, Associate Professor, George Washington University Law School
   

Schedule

Please note the following schedule is tentative and subject to change:

Accommodations

The University of Georgia School of Law is committed to providing reasonable access and accommodations for people with disabilities upon request.  For questions about accessibility or to request accommodations, contact Chantelle Tickles at Chantelle.Tickles@uga.edu or 706-542-5167 at least three business days prior to the event.