One of her areas of advocacy is her work in pushing for postal banking as a means to address financial disparities and provide greater access to financial services for underserved communities—a national initiative she is currently seeing through.
Baradaran's books have received national and international acclaim for their incisive analysis and passionate advocacy for a fairer financial system. Her work has resonated with academics, policymakers, and with a broader audience seeking to understand and address the complex issues of inequality and racism in America's financial landscape. She has advised the U.S. Senators and Congressmen on policy, testified before the U.S. Congress, spoken at national and international forums like the U.S. Treasury and the World Bank.
Born in Iran, Baradaran migrated to the United States during her childhood, where her unique background and experiences have significantly influenced her academic and literary pursuits and fostered a deep sense of social justice. As a law professor, Mehrsa Baradaran continues to inspire and educate the next generation of legal scholars and advocates, using her expertise to push for systemic changes that promote economic justice and equality.
Baradaran's journey toward becoming an authority in banking law began with her academic pursuits. She earned her Juris Doctorate from New York University and went on to clerk for the Honorable Damon J. Keith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Her academic articles have appeared in top journals like the Harvard Law Review, the NYU Law Review, and the Vanderbilt Law Review.
About Mehrsa
Accomplishments
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Harvard Law School, Visiting Professor, Fall 2024
Northwestern School of Law, Distinguished Visiting Professor, August 2023-May 2024
University of California Irvine School of Law, Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Professor of Law, August 2019-Present
University of Georgia School of Law, Associate Dean & Robert Cotten Alston Chair in Corporate Law, January 2016-August 2019
University of Georgia School of Law, Associate Professor, August 2014-January 2016
J. Reuben Clark School of Law, Brigham Young University, Assoc. Professor, May 2010-April 2012
New York University School of Law, Academic Research Fellow, May 2009-April 2010
Courses taught: Contracts, Property, Banking Regulation, Securities Regulation, Corporations/Business Associations, and Race, Law and Capitalism.
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Biden-Harris Transition Team Member, Treasury, Federal Reserve, SEC, FDIC, OCC, CUNA, CFTC, CFPB.
Fellow, Roosevelt Institute (2019-present)
Managing Director, UCI Policy Lab: AI Observatory for Access to Credit (2019-present)
Policy Advisor, Elizabeth Warren Presidential Campaign (2019-2020)
Board Member, Washington Center for Equitable Growth (2019-present)
Board Member, American Prospect (2019-present)
Member of National Advisory Council on Eliminating the Black-White Wealth Gap, Center for American Progress (2019-present)
Board Member, People for the American Way (PFAT) (2018-present)
Advisory Board, Public Banking Institute (2019-present)
Core Faculty, The Committee on Global Thought (CGT), Columbia University (2020-present)
Core Contributor, Law & Political Economy Blog (lpeblog.org) (2018-present)
Editorial Board, Just Money Blog (2019-present)
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Books
The Quiet Coup: Neoliberalism and the Looting of America, LIVERRIGHT- W.W. NORTON (May 2024)
Race, Law and Capital (Norton Shorts Series), W.W. NORTON (2024)
The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, BELKNAP PRESS/HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS (Sept. 2017)
How the Other Half Banks: Exclusion, Exploitation, and the Threat to Democracy, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS (Oct. 2015)
Articles
Rethinking Financial Inclusion: Designing an Equitable System with Public Policy, ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE (2020)
Banking on Democracy, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW (2020)
Closing the Racial Wealth Gap, NYU LAW REVIEW (2020)
Morality and Usury, HARVARD CIVIL RIGHTS-CIVIL LIBERTIES LAW REVIEW (2020)
The Twenty First Century Homestead Act, THE NEW DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE, ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE (2019)
Jim Crow Credit, 9 UC IRVINE L. REV. 887 (2019)
The New Deal and Black Banking Chapter -- Selected for the 2017 Standford/Harvard/Yale Junior Faculty Forum
Regulation by Hypothetical, 67 VAND. L. REV. 1247-1326 (2014) -- Reprinted in the Corporate Practice Commentator and selected as the: “10 Best Corporate and Securities Articles of the Year”
It’s Time for Postal Banking, 127 HARV. L. REV. F. 165 (2014)
Banking and the Social Contract, 89 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 1283 (2014)
How the Poor Got Cut out of Banking, 62 EMORY L. J. 483 (2013)
Reconsidering the Separation of Banking and Commerce, 80 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 385 (2012) -- Selected for 2011 C-LEAF Junior Faculty Scholarship Fellowship
The ILC and the Reconstruction of U.S. Banking, 62 SMU L. REV. 1143 (2010)
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The Neoliberal Looting of America, New York Times, July 2, 2020
No Justice, No Peace, American Prospect, Cover July 2020
Just Send the Checks, The Atlantic, April 9, 2020
A Crisis to End All Crises, American Prospect, March 29, 2020
The Real Roots of Black Capitalism, New York Times, March 31, 2019
Mortgaging the Future, Good as Gold, and Fabric of Modernity, The 1619 Project, New York Times , August 2019
Postal Banking and Democracy, American Affairs, Fall Issue 2018
Book Review: City of Debtors, American Historical Review, May 2018
Why Fines Don’t Work, Fortune, April 2018
A Bad Check for Black America, Boston Review, November 9, 2017
Banks: A Broken Social Contract, Democracy Journal, June 28, 2016.
George Bailey’s Bank Is Dead! Long Live George Bailey’s Bank, The Observer, November 28, 2016.
Payday Lending isn’t Helping the Poor. Here’s What Might, The Washington Post, June 28, 2016.
Credit Is a Double-Edged Sword, The Atlantic, April 26, 2016
If the U.S. Government Treated Poor People as Well as It Treats Bank, The Atlantic, October 15, 2015
The Post Office Banks on the Poor, New York Times, February 7, 2014
Postal Banking Worked—Let’s Bring it Back, The Nation, January 6, 2016
A Short History of Postal Banking, Slate, August 18, 2014
How Going Postal Could Help the Underbanked, Bloomberg, November 19, 2015
Hold the Champaign on GE Capital, American Banker, April 15, 2015
Postal Banking: A Lifesaver for America’s Poor, American Banker, September 24, 2015
It’s Time for a Public Option in Banking, Harvard Law Record, November 16, 2015
Maggie Walker’s Bank, Huffington Post, February 13, 2015
The Shrews that Tame Wall Street?, Huffington Post, November 24, 2014
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2019 Best Book Award, Urban Affairs Award, The Color of Money
2018 Prose Book Award, The Color of Money was awarded Honorable Mention in the Business/Finance Category
2018 Georgia Author of the Year, Finalist
2017 Graduation Marshall, University of Georgia School of Law
2012 Professor of the Year, Brigham Young University School of Law
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New York University School of Law - J.D., cum laude
Brigham Young University - B.A. English, Chemistry, Magna Cum Laude