Suzanne Martindale is a Staff Attorney for Consumers Union. She is an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of California. Suzanne works out of the West Coast Office in San Francisco, CA and is part of the Financial Services Campaign Team, where she works primarily on “payments” – everything from prepaid cards and gift cards to bank accounts and mobile phone purchases. Much of her work in payments involves media advocacy and public education. She also works on debt collection and debt settlement legislation and policy.
Before joining Consumers Union full-time, Suzanne worked for over two years as a law student intern for Consumers Union’s West Coast Office. Suzanne received her law degree from University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 2010. While in law school, Suzanne was also a clinical student at the East Bay Community Law Center in Berkeley, CA, where she ran tenants’ rights clinics, defended low-income clients in eviction and debt collection lawsuits, and trained other law students to do direct services work. She was a senior editor for the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law and served on the journal’s executive committee.
Prior to law school, Suzanne was an adjunct instructor at two community colleges in the Chicago metropolitan area, and taught a variety of Philosophy and Humanities courses from 2005-2006. She received a Master’s Degree in the Humanities from the University of Chicago in 2005, concentrating in legal and political philosophy. Suzanne received her undergraduate degree from University of California, Berkeley in 2003 (B.A., magna cum laude, Philosophy). She currently lives in Oakland, CA.