Former Attorney at National Consumer Law Center
Gary Klein, in his interview, discusses his time serving as a Senior Attorney and Director of the Sustainable Homeownership Initiative for the National Consumer Law Center as well as his role in co-founding and working with Roddy, Klein & Ryan, a class-action law firm which focuses on issues of low-income and minority homeownership. He explained the unfair practices he witnessed throughout his time at National Consumer Law Center before the crisis, specifically relating to the mistreatment of communities of color. While at Roddy, Klein & Ryan, Klein sued some of the largest mortgage originators and servicers in the industry and often entered into settlements with them. Lastly, Klein describes how better funding for legal services for low and moderate-income consumers is essential in order to even the playing field against predatory lenders, specifically addressing concerns that communities of color are still being taken advantage of to this day.
Date Recorded:
July 8, 2021
Interviewed by:
Jon Rosen
Gary Klein is currently Director of the Covid Eviction Legal Help Project at Greater Boston Legal Services. Beginning his career at Philadelphia’s Community Legal Services in 1985, Klein then served during the 1990s as a Senior Attorney and Director of the Sustainable Homeownership Initiative for the National Consumer Law Center. Klein co-founded two law firms, Roddy, Klein & Ryanin 2001and Klein Kavanagh Costello, LLP in 2011. At these class-action law firms, he focused on cases seeking to protect low-income and minority home ownership by addressing predatory mortgage lending and servicing. Klein has successfully sued some of the largest mortgage originators and servicers in the industry for a wide range of unfair business practices.
