Kristen G.
Simplicio

Kristen Simplicio is a partner at Clarkson Law Firm, P.C. She has devoted her career to representing victims of illegal debt collection practices, false advertising, and other fraudulent and unfair corporate schemes. Over the course of her career, Ms. Simplicio has represented homeowners, renters, students, small business owners, and other consumers, obtaining millions of dollars of relief and changed practices.

Ms. Simplicio represents consumers in class action lawsuits involving deceptive and illegal lending schemes, hidden fees, and other unfair acts, often focusing on the financial services and mortgage lending industries. She is currently serving as counsel in nationwide RICO suit against a construction company and its mortgage lender for deceptive lending practices. This work builds on Ms. Simplicio’s other experience taking on the mortgage industry. In particular, Ms. Simplicio secured a number of victories on behalf of homeowners in a series of class actions brought against mortgage loan servicers over fees charged in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and related state statutes. These cases led to important changes to the mortgage servicing industry, with at least six mortgage servicers agreeing as part of the settlement to stop charging these fees.

Ms. Simplicio also represents workers who were subject to wage theft and other violations of labor laws. She is currently litigating a series of cases against the multilevel marketing industry, in which the workers allege they were misclassified as independent contractors under the California Labor Code. This ongoing work has already resulted in one classwide settlement and other changed practices in the industry.

As part of her work, Ms. Simplicio has successfully challenged a number of mandatory arbitration and class waiver clauses, allowing consumers and workers to pursue class actions and have their day in court.

Ms. Simplicio is a frequent speaker on topics such as mandatory arbitration and class action practice. She serves on the board of directors for Public Justice. She is also a member of the American Association for Justice and the National Association of Consumer Advocates.

While Ms. Simplicio is now based in Washington, DC, she spent the first decade of her practice in California, where she successfully litigated a number of false advertising cases as well as a RICO lawsuit on behalf of small business owners trapped in predatory leases for credit card processing equipment, obtaining millions of dollars of relief and changed practices for the victims.

Ms. Simplicio obtained her law degree from American University, Washington College of Law, where she graduated cum laude. There, she served as a Notes & Comments Editor for the Administrative Law Review. She holds a Bachelor's degree from McGill University.