Adjunct Spotlight: Martha Fulford
Every year, around 45 adjunct faculty teach a wide range of upper-level courses. With a mix of theoretical and practice-minded perspectives, adjuncts are an essential part of the Colorado Law community. In this series, we are thrilled to highlight a fewÌýof our amazing adjuncts and learn what they enjoy most about training the next generation of lawyers. First up, we have Martha Fulford. Professor FulfordÌýteaches Consumer Protection Laws and Policies here at Colorado Law, a course that will be offered once again in Fall 2025.ÌýÌý
Martha Fulford is an Assistant Deputy at the Colorado Attorney General's Office. She leads the office's civil rights work, including housing and worker protections, and pattern or practice investigations. She also serves as the consumer credit administrator, enforcing laws related to consumer lending, private education lending, student loan servicing, mortgage servicing, debt collection, and debt settlement.ÌýÌý
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Before joining the AG's office, FulfordÌýwas senior counsel at the National Student Legal Defense Network, representing student loan borrowers in impact litigation against student loan servicers and the U.S. Department of Education.ÌýÌý
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From 2012 to 2018, Fulford served in the Legal Division at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she advised agency leadership on administrative law, Dodd-Frank authorities, and federal consumer financial law, and served as the student lending lead for the Legal Division.ÌýÌý
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Fulford clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Tucker L. Melançon and for Judge Michael A. Chagares on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.ÌýShe graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a double major in history and international studies. FulfordÌýearned her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where she was a James Kent Scholar and managing editor of the Columbia Law Review.ÌýÌý
Learn more about Fulford in the Q&A below!ÌýÌý
What do you enjoy most about being an adjunct at Colorado Law?ÌýÌýÌý
MF: I enjoy getting to know students and encouraging them to consider careers in consumer protection and public service generally.ÌýÌý
How has your work as an adjunct impacted your own practice of law, and vice versa?ÌýÌý
MF: I am impressed with the consumer protection problems students identified from their own lives and the creative legal solutions they came up with to address these problems.ÌýÌý
Can you tell me more about your course, Consumer Protection Laws and Policies? What do you hope students will get out of taking the course? Ìý
MF: The course will focus on protections we all rely on, when taking out student loans, making an online purchase, using a bank account, accessing rental housing, or buying a home. ÌýWhen these protections fail, real people suffer and the ripple effects can be systemic, such as in the Financial Crisis. In addition to substantive topics of consumer protection, the course will include policy, statutory interpretation, agency regulation, administrative law, and constitutional law. Finally, you'll learn to be a discerning consumer, aware of your rights, and able to protect yourself as you navigate an ever more complicated landscape for consumers.Ìý
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