CONSUMER DEFENSE STUDIES (CDS)
Consumer Defense Studies serves as the methodology spine of the Consumer Defense Lab. Every student begins here. CDS teaches the Presumption Killer Methodology, a structured framework for identifying assumptions, testing burdens of proof, evaluating evidence, and locating the gaps that determine outcomes in consumer matters. Students learn how to analyze a matter through the six presumption categories of standing, authentication, chain of title, accounting, service, and timing. The department develops the analytical discipline required to separate assertion from proof and trains students to think strategically before they ever examine a statute, motion, or document. CDS is the foundation upon which every other department is built.
ADMINISTRATIVE, TRUST, AND CREDIT STUDIES (ATC)
Administrative, Trust, and Credit Studies focuses on the administrative side of consumer advocacy and credit reporting practice. Students learn the structure and operation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, administrative complaint processes, credit reporting systems, debt validation procedures, trust studies, and documentary record development. ATC teaches students how information moves through agencies, furnishers, collectors, creditors, and administrative bodies while providing the framework necessary to understand credit reporting, consumer disputes, trust preparation, and administrative strategy. The department emphasizes precision, documentation, and process as the foundation of effective consumer advocacy.
EVIDENTIARY STUDIES (EVS)
Evidentiary Studies teaches students how facts become evidence and how evidence becomes proof. The department focuses on business records, authentication, chain of title analysis, documentary foundations, record keeping systems, and evidentiary reliability. Students learn how documents enter the record, what makes a record admissible, how ownership and authority are proven, and where evidentiary weaknesses commonly appear. EVS develops the ability to critically evaluate records, identify defects in documentation, and understand the difference between information that merely exists and information that can actually be proven. The department serves as the bridge between facts and admissible evidence.
PROCEDURAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES (PSS)
Procedural and Strategic Studies teaches students how matters progress from beginning to end and how strategic decisions are made at each stage. The department follows the life cycle of a matter through pre-filing analysis, administrative processes, pleadings, discovery, motion practice, settlement, trial preparation, trial, and appeal. Students learn procedural frameworks, strategic sequencing, timing considerations, burden allocation, and litigation structure. PSS focuses not on what the law says, but on when and how the law is applied. The department trains students to think systematically, anticipate procedural developments, and understand how strategy, evidence, and timing interact throughout the life of a matter.
