Press Release

Fred Miller Receives Lifetime Achievement Award From American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers

April 17, 2018

Fred H. Miller, special counsel to Ballard Spahr and a leading national authority on the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and other commercial and consumer finance matters, received the prestigious Homer Kripke Achievement Award from the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers (ACCFL) on April 14 at the College's annual meeting in Orlando.

Mr. Miller is based in Ballard Spahr's Minneapolis office and is a member of the firm's highly regarded Consumer Financial Services Group. The Kripke Award is the ACCFL's lifetime achievement honor and recognizes a "career of noteworthy leadership and a history of exceptional dedication to the improvement of commercial finance law and practice." The College is a professional association of distinguished lawyers dedicated to enhancing the practice of commercial finance law and the ethics of the profession. The ACCFL presents continuing education and networking events and participates in initiatives to review and enhance commercial finance laws and regulations in cooperation with judicial and governmental authorities.

Mr. Miller also has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers, making him the only person to receive career-long honors from both major professional associations.

"Fred is a titan in the commercial and consumer finance law arena and a highly respected colleague, so it is wonderful to see him receive this prestigious recognition," said Alan Kaplinsky, co-leader of Ballard Spahr's Consumer Financial Services Group, one of only four such practices nationally to earn Band One ranking by Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business. "He personifies a lifetime of high-level accomplishment in commercial and consumer finance law."

Mr. Miller is one of the architects of revisions to the UCC beginning in 1987. He is the current chair of the Drafting Committee for the Uniform Regulation of Virtual Currency Businesses Act, an initiative of the national Uniform Law Commission.

At various times throughout his career, Mr. Miller has worked with attorneys and clients on a wide variety of legal issues involving the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), and other federal consumer finance laws. He also is a former consultant to the Oklahoma Department of Consumer Credit and to the Division on Consumer and Community Affairs of the Federal Reserve Board—where he helped rewrite TILA and ECOA Regulation B.

Prior to joining Ballard Spahr, Mr. Miller was a distinguished professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law for 40 years, where he taught courses in commercial law, contracts, consumer law, and real estate finance. He was the McAfee Taft Chair in Law and Centennial Professor at Oklahoma University and retired as the George L. Cross Research Professor Emeritus. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles, books, and book chapters.

At Ballard Spahr, in addition to his work with the firm's Consumer Financial Services Group, Mr. Miller practices transactional finance in the firm's Business and Finance Department. The CFS Group advises financial institutions of every size and type on regulatory matters, assists in the design and documentation of credit products, and represents clients in class actions, regulatory enforcement proceedings, and other lawsuits. The Transactional Finance Group represents clients in lending, borrowing, and arranging of capital through a variety of deal structures and project types for commercial banks, debt funds, small business investment companies, insurance companies, commercial and consumer finance companies, and private equity firms.

"It is so rewarding to be recognized for the hard work I've dedicated to my profession and professional colleagues," Mr. Miller said. "But the even bigger rewards are the relationships I enjoy with the tremendous lawyers I have met through the ACCFL. I am forever grateful to the College and its Fellows for their gracious recognition of me."

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