Skip to content
National Association of Attorneys General
  • Issues
    • Issues
      • Anticorruption
      • Antitrust
      • Bankruptcy
      • Charities
      • Civil Law
    • Issues
      • Consumer Protection
      • Criminal Law
      • Cyber and Technology
      • Disaster Preparedness & Response
      • Elder Justice
    • Issues
      • Ethics
      • Human Trafficking
      • Medicaid Fraud
      • Opioids
      • Powers & Duties
    • Issues
      • Public Health
      • The U.S. Supreme Court
      • Tobacco
      • Veterans & Military
  • Our Work
    • Training & Research
    • Centers
      • NAAG Center on Cyber and Technology
      • NAAG Center for Excellence in Governance
      • NAAG Center for Supreme Court Advocacy
      • NAAG Center for Tobacco & Public Health
      • NAGTRI Center for Consumer Protection
      • NAGTRI Center for Ethics & Public Integrity
      • NAGTRI Center for International Partnerships & Strategic Collaboration
      • NAGTRI Center for Leadership Development
      • NAGTRI Center for Legal Advocacy & Faculty Development
    • Committees
    • Initiatives
      • Presidential Initiative
      • Strategic Partnerships
      • ConsumerResources.org
      • International Fellows
      • COVID-19
    • Bankruptcy
    • Policy & Advocacy
  • Events & Training
    • Event Calendar
    • Attorney General Symposium
    • Presidential Summit
    • Capital Forum
    • Region Meetings
    • NAGTRI Trainings
    • Online Learning
    • NAGTRI Faculty
    • Video Library
  • News & Resources
    • Attorney General Journal
    • Reports & Publications
    • Newsroom
    • NAAG Policy Letters
    • Podcasts
    • Online Learning
    • Research & Data
    • Member Directory
  • Attorneys General
    • What Attorneys General Do
    • AGs in the News
    • Who is my Attorney General?
    • Research & Data
    • Awards & Recognition
    • Careers in Attorney General Offices
  • About NAAG
    • NAAG Staff
    • NAGTRI
    • NAAG Leadership
    • NAAG Member Services
    • NAAG Regions
    • NAAG FAQs
    • SAGE
    • NAMFCU
    • Newsroom
    • Careers at NAAG
  • Find my AG
  • NAGTRI
  • Contact Us
National Association of Attorneys General
  • Find My AG
  • NAGTRI
  • Consumer Complaints
  • Contact Us
Log In
  • Issues
    • Issues
      • Anticorruption
      • Antitrust
      • Bankruptcy
      • Charities
      • Civil Law
    • Issues
      • Consumer Protection
      • Criminal Law
      • Cyber and Technology
      • Disaster Preparedness & Response
      • Elder Justice
    • Issues
      • Ethics
      • Human Trafficking
      • Medicaid Fraud
      • Opioids
      • Powers & Duties
    • Issues
      • Public Health
      • The U.S. Supreme Court
      • Tobacco
      • Veterans & Military
  • Our Work
    • Training & Research
    • Centers
      • NAAG Center on Cyber and Technology
      • NAAG Center for Excellence in Governance
      • NAAG Center for Supreme Court Advocacy
      • NAAG Center for Tobacco & Public Health
      • NAGTRI Center for Consumer Protection
      • NAGTRI Center for Ethics & Public Integrity
      • NAGTRI Center for International Partnerships & Strategic Collaboration
      • NAGTRI Center for Leadership Development
      • NAGTRI Center for Legal Advocacy & Faculty Development
    • Committees
    • Initiatives
      • Presidential Initiative
      • Strategic Partnerships
      • ConsumerResources.org
      • International Fellows
      • COVID-19
    • Bankruptcy
    • Policy & Advocacy
  • Events & Training
    • Event Calendar
    • Attorney General Symposium
    • Presidential Summit
    • Capital Forum
    • Region Meetings
    • NAGTRI Trainings
    • Online Learning
    • NAGTRI Faculty
    • Video Library
  • News & Resources
    • Attorney General Journal
    • Reports & Publications
    • Newsroom
    • NAAG Policy Letters
    • Podcasts
    • Online Learning
    • Research & Data
    • Member Directory
  • Attorneys General
    • What Attorneys General Do
    • AGs in the News
    • Who is my Attorney General?
    • Research & Data
    • Awards & Recognition
    • Careers in Attorney General Offices
  • About NAAG
    • NAAG Staff
    • NAGTRI
    • NAAG Leadership
    • NAAG Member Services
    • NAAG Regions
    • NAAG FAQs
    • SAGE
    • NAMFCU
    • Newsroom
    • Careers at NAAG
  • Find my AG
  • NAGTRI
  • Contact Us

Consumer Chief of the Month: Shennan Kavanagh, Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office

Home / Consumer Protection / Consumer Chief of the Month: Shennan Kavanagh, Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office
February 1, 2022 Consumer Protection
Share this

  • Shennan Kavanagh
    Division Chief, Consumer Protection Division
    Massachusetts Attorney General's Office

headshot of Shennan KavanaghI joined the Consumer Protection Division (CPD) at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (MA AGO) in October of 2015 after 12 years in private practice litigating consumer finance class actions. My entire legal career has been devoted to consumer protection. It is an area of law that, in my experience, provides boundless opportunities to serve in the public interest and to help individuals and families who are victims of predatory business practices.

At the MA AGO, my CPD colleagues and I collaborate on a busy caseload to combat unfair and deceptive conduct by businesses that undermines the financial stability of Massachusetts residents. This includes work promoting housing stability, transportation affordability, and debtor and borrower rights. My favorite days are when I know our work got money back in consumers’ pockets, allowed them to keep their cars, or stay in their homes, or when we have taken the burden of debt off their shoulders. Another area of great fulfillment is when I am able to “pay it forward” to newer attorneys through mentorship and support, as I have been the beneficiary of great mentorship during my career.

My first experience in complex consumer protection litigation was in 2003, when I joined a small boutique law firm that had homeowners walking through the door for help avoiding imminent foreclosures. They brought with them mortgage loans that contained abusive terms and features that were unlike anything anyone had seen. Over the next decade, I litigated national cases against predatory mortgage lenders and servicers and saw the devastating consequences of reckless and illegal lending to homeowners.

It was a great experience to be able to attend the NAAG Consumer Protection Conference this fall in DC – in person (!) – and to meet my talented and hardworking colleagues from all around the country. No matter how difficult our fight to protect consumers can be, knowing that we are working collectively to level the playing field for the most vulnerable populations always give me the energy to keep going.

On a personal note, before I became a lawyer, I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in a town called Telemele, in Guinea, West Africa, where I taught English in a rural high school. I have a 6-year old son. Like me, he experiences outrage in the face of unfairness, except his view of unfairness is being required to take a bath every night or not being able to have candy every day.  (“But I had candy yesterday!”) Maybe he will be a lawyer, too.

Other articles in this edition include:

  • Communities of Color, Fraud, and Consumer Protection Agencies
  • Attorney General Consumer Protection News: January 2022
  • Federal Consumer Protection News: January 2022

NAAG-NAGTRI Center for Consumer Protection logo

Related Posts

Related Posts

Article of the Month, Harley Moyer, Law Clerk, Iowa Attorney General's Office

Communities of Color, Fraud, and Consumer Protection Agencies

consumer protection law book and gavel

Multistate Consumer Protection Actions

Headset in front of desk phone, do not call

Center for Consumer Protection 2021 Year in Review

Related Posts

  • Communities of Color, Fraud, and Consumer Protection Agencies
  • Multistate Consumer Protection Actions
  • Center for Consumer Protection 2021 Year in Review

Recent Posts

  • Supreme Court Report: Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, 21-984
  • Supreme Court Report: Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, 21-908
  • Supreme Court Report: Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., 21-1168
  • Supreme Court Report: Health and Hospital Corp. of Marion County v. Talevski, 21-806
  • Supreme Court Report: Reed v. Goertz, 21-442

Connect with NAAG and the Attorney General Community

Create a NAAG account to subscribe to our newsletters or mailing lists.

Create Account
Subscribe
Marble columns and the top of a federal building

scroll to filters

White Logo for the National Association of Attorneys General

1850 M Street NW
12th floor
Washington, DC 20036

TEL 202-326-6000
EMAIL 

Youtube
  • Issues
    • Issues
      • Anticorruption
      • Antitrust
      • Bankruptcy
      • Charities
      • Civil Law
    • Issues
      • Consumer Protection
      • Criminal Law
      • Cyber and Technology
      • Disaster Preparedness & Response
      • Elder Justice
    • Issues
      • Ethics
      • Human Trafficking
      • Medicaid Fraud
      • Opioids
      • Powers & Duties
    • Issues
      • Public Health
      • The U.S. Supreme Court
      • Tobacco
      • Veterans & Military
  • Our Work
    • Training & Research
    • Centers
      • NAAG Center on Cyber and Technology
      • NAAG Center for Excellence in Governance
      • NAAG Center for Supreme Court Advocacy
      • NAAG Center for Tobacco & Public Health
      • NAGTRI Center for Consumer Protection
      • NAGTRI Center for Ethics & Public Integrity
      • NAGTRI Center for International Partnerships & Strategic Collaboration
      • NAGTRI Center for Leadership Development
      • NAGTRI Center for Legal Advocacy & Faculty Development
    • Committees
    • Initiatives
      • Presidential Initiative
      • Strategic Partnerships
      • ConsumerResources.org
      • International Fellows
      • COVID-19
    • Bankruptcy
    • Policy & Advocacy
  • Events & Training
    • Event Calendar
    • Attorney General Symposium
    • Presidential Summit
    • Capital Forum
    • Region Meetings
    • NAGTRI Trainings
    • Online Learning
    • NAGTRI Faculty
    • Video Library
  • News & Resources
    • Attorney General Journal
    • Reports & Publications
    • Newsroom
    • NAAG Policy Letters
    • Podcasts
    • Online Learning
    • Research & Data
    • Member Directory
  • Attorneys General
    • What Attorneys General Do
    • AGs in the News
    • Who is my Attorney General?
    • Research & Data
    • Awards & Recognition
    • Careers in Attorney General Offices
  • About NAAG
    • NAAG Staff
    • NAGTRI
    • NAAG Leadership
    • NAAG Member Services
    • NAAG Regions
    • NAAG FAQs
    • SAGE
    • NAMFCU
    • Newsroom
    • Careers at NAAG
  • Find my AG
  • NAGTRI
  • Contact Us
  • Find My AG
  • NAGTRI
  • Consumer Complaints
  • Contact Us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy & Cookies Notice
  • Sitemap
  • Member Login

About the National Association of Attorneys General

As the nonpartisan national forum for the 56 state and territory attorneys general and their staff, NAAG provides collaboration, insight, and expertise to empower and champion America's attorneys general.
Learn More

© 2022 Copyright National Association of Attorneys General

Website by Yoko Co

Scroll To Top