This program is eligible for 1 hour of CLE credit in 60-minute states. In 50-minute states, this program is eligible for 1.2 hours of CLE credit. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules.
Overview
Join John Culhane and Thomas Burke of Ballard Spahr LLC for a fast-paced, one-hour CLE — co-sponsored by the PBA Legal Academics Committee — that unpacks the most important developments in student lending and loan servicing during the first half of 2025.
This timely program will explore:
- Key federal and state legislative changes, including new laws affecting student lenders and servicers
- Emerging litigation trends impacting both federal and private student loans
- A focused look at the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”: what’s in it, where it stands, and how it could reshape the student lending and servicing landscape
Whether you advise lenders, servicers, borrowers, or work in compliance or policy, you’ll gain essential insights to stay ahead in this rapidly evolving regulatory environment.
Co-sponsored by the PBA Legal Academics Committee
Faculty
Thomas Burke, Esq.
Mr. Burke is a partner at Ballard Spahr LLP. He represents clients in consumer financial services matters, enforcement actions, and complex commercial litigation in federal and state trial and appellate courts around the country. Tom is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and has served the public as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
In his CFS practice, Tom represents banks, non-bank lenders, and loan servicers in individual and class litigation and arbitration. He specializes in defending claims under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), state Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices (UDAAP) statutes, and Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code (relating to wire transfer fraud). Tom has litigated, arbitrated, and tried complex cases in civil forums around the country, including in highly active regulatory jurisdictions such as New York, California, and Massachusetts.
John L. Culhane, Jr., Esq.
Mr. Culhane is a partner at Ballard Spahr LLP and a member of the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Group. His practice emphasizes advising on interstate direct and indirect consumer and residential mortgage loan and leasing programs, through both traditional brick-and-mortar facilities and e-commerce. Mr. Culhane addresses issues involving licensing, advertising and marketing, application processing, privacy, disclosure, pricing, substantive terms, servicing, collection, portfolio sales, and securitization. His clients have ranged from a multibillion-dollar bank holding company, to one of the nation’s largest residential mortgage lenders, to a leading provider of financial institution forms and documentation.
Before joining Ballard Spahr, Mr. Culhane was associate counsel with Mellon Bank, N.A.; associate counsel with Bank of America NT&SA; and senior attorney (section chief) with the National Credit Union Administration, the federal agency regulating federal credit unions.
Mr. Culhane is the Former Editor of the Annual Survey of Consumer Financial Services Law which is published each year in The Business Lawyer. He frequently speaks and writes about consumer financial services issues. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Virginia Law School.
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