Ted Mermin, Influential California Advocate, Receives Consumer Law’s Highest Honor

October 24, 2026 — Press Release

Four Attorneys Receive ‘Rising Star’ Recognition for Major Contributions to Consumer Law 

ATLANTA — Nationally renowned consumer lawyer Ted Mermin has received the National Consumer Law Center’s 2026 Vern Countryman Award. The prestigious annual honor recognizes an attorney whose special contributions have strengthened the field of consumer law and affirmed the rights of low-income and other disadvantaged consumers.

Ted Mermin is the founder and executive director of the Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice at the University of California at Berkeley. He is also founder and director of the California Low-Income Consumer Coalition (CLICC), a voice for low-income consumers in the California Legislature. He has long worked to connect and educate current and prospective consumer advocates, co-founding the Consumer Law Advocates, Scholars & Students (CLASS) Network, as well as the Economic Justice Policy Advocates Conference to establish consumer law programs throughout the country.

“Ted has worked assiduously to connect consumer lawyers into a powerful legislative force in California and beyond, winning important consumer protections for low income people around the country” said Richard Dubois, executive director of the National Consumer Law Center. “His work at Berkeley has created an important incubator for economic justice and has succeeded in inspiring new generations of consumer advocates. Ted’s work is squarely in the tradition of the pioneering law professor Vern Countryman, and he is richly deserving of this award.” 

NCLC presented the award at its 35th annual Consumer Rights Litigation Conference in Atlanta. It also presented Rising Star Awards to Erin Duncan, Rebecca Ellis, Shawuki Hilton, and Jeff Newsome. The Rising Star Awards are awarded annually by the NCLC Partners Council to one or more attorneys in practice for 15 years or fewer who have made major contributions to consumer law within the past two years by trying or settling a case of great success and significance. 

Erin Duncan, program attorney at Prairie State Legal Services in Illinois, was recognized for her strategic and successful litigation on behalf of mobile home park residents subjected to sharp rent increases, illegal fines, and junk fees. The settlement she negotiated provided relief for tenants in five mobile home parks with over 1300 total lots, ensuring they could stay in their homes and avoid predatory fees and premature rent hikes. 

Rebecca Ellis, deputy litigation director at the Project on Predatory Student Lending, received the award in recognition of her work leading landmark litigation against the U.S. Department of Education (ED) in Sweet v. McMahon. The class action lawsuit has so far delivered more than $12 billion in federal student loan cancellation and $1 billion in refunds to nearly 500,000 former students of predatory higher ed schools. 

Shawuki Hilton, a private attorney in Bushnell, Fla., was recognized for his successful strategies to help clients who were victims of identity theft and who were defrauded by unscrupulous contractors providing faulty services.  

Jeff Newsome, attorney at Varnell & Warwick in Tampa, Fla., was named a Rising Star for his litigation on behalf of thousands of fans who purchased tickets to the 2024 Copa American Final at Hard Rock Stadium, but were denied entry or access to their seats and concessions. Led by Newsome, a litigation team of more than a dozen attorneys achieved a $14 million class action settlement, providing relief to thousands of consumers. 

The Vern Countryman Award has become the preeminent honor for consumer attorneys. It has been presented each year, since 1990, to a legal services or other public interest attorney whose special contributions to the practice of consumer law have strengthened and affirmed the rights of low-income Americans. The Rising Star Award is presented annually by the National Consumer Law Center’s Partners Council to one or more attorneys in practice for 15 years or less who have made major contributions to consumer law within the past two years by trying or settling a case of great success and significance.

Both awards are presented during the Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, the largest and most comprehensive educational conference for consumer attorneys in the nation.