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Alpha Taylor, Attorney (Washington D.C. Office)

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Headshot of a bearded Black man with glassesAlpha S. Taylor is a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center where he works on student loans and other consumer law issues. Previously, he worked as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, handling foreclosure, eviction, and student loan cases. He also established the Hamilton County Eviction Prevention Project, which helps low-income tenants avoid eviction. After moving to DC, Alpha worked for a non-profit tenant defense organization and an appellate litigation law firm. Alpha is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law and Virginia Commonwealth University.



Michael Jones, Finance Manager

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As the National Consumer Law Center’s finance manager. Michael Jones works closely with the chief financial officer, staff accountant, and finance associate to manage day-to-day accounting operations. Previously, he was assistant controller at Campbell Conroy & O’Neil, and served in the Peace Corps in Namibia as a math teacher from 2009-2011 and a volunteer leader in 2012. He holds a BA in Mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder and an MS in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts Boston.



Jackie Lyon, Operations Manager

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A blond woman smiling in a white shirtJackie Lyon joined the National Consumer Law Center team in 2021. As the Operations Manager, Jackie is responsible for supervising members of the administrative staff and managing administrative workflows for the office. In addition, she provides technical support to staff, oversees building operations and systems, and manages equipment needs and issues.

Jackie came to NCLC with a background in nonprofit operations and development after many years at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass & MetroWest. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and a Master’s Degree in Community Development and Planning from Clark University.



Hayley Morway, Development Operations & Database Coordinator

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Headshot of Hayley Morway in front of a neutral backgroundHayley Morway manages NCLC’s database for the purposes of donor engagement, acknowledgement, reporting, and assisting in grant management. She graduated from the University of Connecticut and previously worked for The Student Conservation Association in New Hampshire. Hayley enjoys playing in and officiating soccer games in her free time.



Samuel R. Shepard, N. Neal Pike Fellow

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Sam Shepard is the N. Neal Pike Fellow at NCLC working to develop resources that help Americans with physical, intellectual, developmental, or other disabilities use consumer law protections to seek justice. In 2019, Sam was a Hobbs Fellow at NCLC. Previously, he worked as a judicial intern for Judge Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson on the First Circuit Court of Appeals. He received his B.A. from Brown University and graduated cum laude from Boston University School of Law.



Kyra Taylor, Staff Attorney

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Kyra Taylor is a staff attorney, focusing on student loans.  Prior to joining NCLC, Kyra was a staff attorney at Harvard Law’s Legal Services Center, where she worked in the Project on Predatory Student Lending. Kyra also litigated consumer class actions as a public interest fellow at the Washington DC plaintiffs’ firm Tycko & Zavareei LLP and  Public Justice. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Kyra was an elementary school teacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and East Harlem, New York. She is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley School of Law and Temple University.



Suraj Tandukar, Administrative Assistant

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As the Administrative Assistant in NCLC’s Boston office, Suraj Tandukar answers phones, assists staff with scheduling meetings and making travel arrangements, creates and modifies documents, and helps maintain our database. Suraj joined NCLC in 2020 and is very excited to be part of the NCLC team!  During his free time, he enjoys cooking and spending time with friends.



Moussou N’Diaye, Digital Content and Operations Assistant

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Moussou N’Diaye joined the National Consumer Law Center in 2020. She helps maintain and update the NCLC website, in addition to designing and tweaking digital and print materials that the organization needs. She also assists staff with software problems.  Her free time is spent illustrating, animating, and making films.



Dick Bauer, Access to Justice Fellow

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Dick Bauer joined National Consumer Law Center as HomeCorps Project Supervisor in Fall 2014, focusing on foreclosures and mortgage issues. As an Access to Justice fellow, most of Dick’s time has been spent supervising and mentoring on appeals and other housing cases. He also provides technical assistance, mentoring, and training to a number of other Legal Aid Programs including DOVE (Domestic Violence Ended), Inc., Greater Boston Legal Services, the Justice Center of Southeast Massachusetts, the Lawyers Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness, the Medical Legal Partnership of Boston, Northeast Legal Aid, the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, South Coastal Counties Legal Services, the Tenant Advocacy Project of Harvard Law School, and the Volunteer Lawyers Project. Previously, Dick was a Senior Attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services, representing low-income homeowners, tenants, and homeless families. A graduate of MIT and Northeastern University Law School, Dick served as a member of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure from 1998 until 2015. In 2018, he was selected by the Massachusetts Bar Association for its Access to Justice Lifetime Achievement Award.



Campaign for the Future

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NCLC’s vision is for a nation in which economic opportunity is available to all.

The Campaign for the Future will transform NCLC into a stronger and more sophisticated consumer rights and economic justice advocacy organization—the kind of organization needed to achieve our vision.

Over the past year, NCLC has engaged our Board, Partners Council, staff, and other constituencies to identify the areas in which new resources are most needed to advance consumer rights and economic justice. With the support of our community, Campaign for the Future investments will be focused in the following broad areas:

Building a Bigger and Stronger Consumer Law Community

When NCLC was founded in 1969, there were few consumer lawyers and no real “consumer law community.” Over the past five decades, NCLC has worked tirelessly to build this community. Our definitive consumer law treatises, highly-attended conferences, and support of consumer
lawyers through webinars, listservs and other forms of ongoing engagement make a daily difference for consumer lawyers, and have helped build a thriving community.

Our commitment is not only to support consumer lawyers in the present, but to build the consumer law community of the future.

Through the Campaign for the Future, NCLC aims to invest in new ways to continue building a bigger and stronger consumer law community. Those who have benefited from support, mentoring and expert assistance in the past have the opportunity to present those gifts to the next generation.

Through these priority investments, NCLC will work to continue building a pipeline of new consumer lawyers with high levels of expertise to tackle the consumer law challenges of the future.

Strengthening NCLC’s Support of Legal Aid Services for Low-Income Consumers

NCLC founding mission was to support the Legal Services Program, and that commitment has never wavered. Over five decades we have trained thousands of legal aid lawyers in consumer law, and provided resources they rely on to effectively represent their clients.

All Americans deserve equal access to justice—and justice requires access to good consumer lawyers.

In this era, legal services programs are in jeopardy, and resources are limited. Through the Campaign for the Future, NCLC will strive to build a permanent pipeline of attorneys well-versed in consumer law, and work to ensure that legal aid lawyers receive the training and development opportunities they need to meet the complex consumer law challenges of the future.

Expanding NCLC’s Impact at the State Level

In this era of gridlock and regression at the national level, important consumer law fights are increasingly being fought at the state level. Some states offer opportunities for pro-consumer reform that are not currently feasible on the national level, and anti-consumer forces are active—often with little resistance—in others. NCLC has long fought to preserve the role of states in protecting consumers, and has always provided support to state advocates, but our resources to do so have been extremely limited. New resources will allow us to identify and respond to the most important threats and opportunities in the states and build lasting partnerships with state coalitions, which will positively impact state protections and
also help NCLC mobilize state networks on federal issues.

Critical consumer law battles are being fought—and important opportunities for pro-consumer reforms exist—at the state level.

Through the Campaign for the Future, NCLC will be able to plan more pro-actively to engage on the most strategic and important initiatives, and to respond more quickly and aggressively when requests for assistance are made. Through these priority investments, NCLC will deepen our commitment to state advocacy to meet the challenges of the future.

Enhancing NCLC’s Ability to Reach Decision-Makers, Engage Supporters, and Influence Public Opinion

In the 21st Century, honing a persuasive message to cut through a cacophony of information is an essential component of any successful campaign, and more important than ever in building a lasting pro-consumer political environment.

In a challenging and chaotic political environment, using sophisticated techniques to reach decision-makers, influence public opinion and mobilize people to take action is necessary to protect important consumer laws and win pro-consumer reforms.

Through the Campaign for the Future, NCLC will invest in building the more sophisticated communications capacity it takes to win, investing in the tools and resources needed to tell the stories of our low-income clients, shape the debate, convey complex information in more  easily-understood ways, and mobilize supporters and others who care about consumer rights and economic justice issues.

Through these priority investments, NCLC will become a more effective advocate for consumer protections, better able to shape public opinion and persuade policy makers on the consumer law issues of the future.

Investing in New Strategies for Advancing Fairness in the Marketplace

For half a century, NCLC has used its expertise in consumer law and energy policy to work for consumer justice and economic security for low-income and other disadvantaged people in the U.S. Our traditional tools have included policy analysis and advocacy; consumer law and energy
publications; litigation; expert witness services, and training and advice for advocates.

New tools and resources are needed for the next generation of consumer law advocacy.

Through the Campaign for the Future, NCLC will be able to invest in areas where we often lack resources—to allow us to get ahead of the curve and lead the way forward on a range of critical issues.

Through these priority investments, NCLC will advance our expertise and capabilities in several key areas to meet the challenges of the future.

If you would like to find out more about NCLC’s Campaign for the Future please contact Paul Laurent at plaurent@nclc.org.

HONORARY Campaign Co-Chairs:
Senator Elizabeth Warren & Will Ogburn