Originally posted on National Consumer Law Center Newsroom
ATLANTA (October 24, 2026) – Today, in recognition of her contributions to the practice of consumer law, Rebecca Ellis, deputy litigation director at the Project on Predatory Student Lending, accepted the National Consumer Law Center’s 2026 Rising Star Award. The award recognizes attorneys who have been in practice for 15 years or fewer who have made major contributions to consumer law within the past two years.
Rebecca received the award in recognition of her work leading landmark litigation against the U.S. Department of Education (ED) in Sweet v. McMahon. The class action lawsuit has so far delivered more than $12 billion in federal student loan cancellation and $1 billion in refunds to nearly 500,000 former students of predatory higher ed schools.
“Rebecca’s superb advocacy has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of student loan borrowers who were cheated by their schools,” said Rich Dubois, executive director of the National Consumer Law Center. “Her colleagues and her clients prize her intellect, dedication, and creativity, and she is clearly a Rising Star.”
Also receiving the Rising Star award were Erin Duncan, program attorney at Prairie State Legal Services in Illinois, Shawuki Hilton, a private attorney in Bushnell, Fla., and Jeff Newsome, attorney at Varnell & Warwick in Tampa, Fla.
The National Consumer Law Center presented the awards at its 34th annual Consumer Rights Litigation Conference in Atlanta. It also presented the Vern Countryman Award to Ted Mermin, the founder and executive director of the Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice at the University of California at Berkeley. The prestigious annual honor recognizes an attorney whose special contributions to the practice of consumer law have strengthened and affirmed the rights of low-income and other vulnerable consumers.
The Rising Star Award is presented annually by the National Consumer Law Center’s Partners Council to one or more attorneys in practice for 15 years or less who have made major contributions to consumer law within the past two years by trying or settling a case of great success and significance. The Vern Countryman Award has become the preeminent honor for consumer attorneys. It has been presented each year, since 1990, to a legal services or other public interest attorney whose special contributions to the practice of consumer law have strengthened and affirmed the rights of low-income Americans.
Both awards are presented during the Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, the largest and most comprehensive educational conference for consumer attorneys in the nation.
###
