New leadership recruits in Attorney General’s Office boost Weiser’s efforts to protect consumers, crack down on unfair lending practices

June 10, 2019 (DENVER, Colo.) – Attorney General Phil Weiser today announced two new leadership appointments to the Consumer Protection Section of the Colorado Department of Law. Steven Kaufmann will serve as the new deputy attorney general of the Consumer Protection Section, and Martha Fulford was appointed as a first assistant attorney general and the administrator of the Consumer Credit Unit.

“Consumer protection is one of my top priorities. Our legislature just updated our consumer protection laws to close loopholes and provide our office with more tools to hold irresponsible companies accountable. Steven and Martha bring to our office considerable expertise in consumer protection law, impressive experience in law and government, and a deep commitment to public service. I am delighted to have them on our team to vigorously protect consumers and crack down on irresponsible business practices and scams,” Weiser said.

As deputy attorney general, Kaufmann will oversee a section of more than 40 staff that is responsible for investigating and prosecuting violations of state and federal consumer protection, antitrust and consumer lending laws. He is the former chair of Morrison Foerster’s litigation department and brings more than 25 years of public and private experience in commercial litigation, government enforcement, and trial experience. In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Kaufmann to serve as the chief of staff at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent U.S. government development agency created to reduce poverty through long-term investments in impoverished countries. He has a B.A. from Wesleyan University, a J.D. from the University of Michigan, and served as a law clerk to United States District Court Judge John L. Kane, Jr. Kaufman will assume his duties in July 2019

In her role as the new consumer credit administrator, Fulford is responsible for administering a number of laws related to consumer credit, including licensing and regulation of consumer lenders, debt collectors, and debt settlement providers. In accordance with recently enacted state legislation, Fulford will also administer licensing regulations for education loan servicers who service loans owed by Colorado residents. Before her appointment in the Department of Law, Fulford was senior counsel at the National Student Legal Defense Network. From 2012 to 2018, she served as attorney-advisor at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, D.C. where she advised agency leadership on administrative law, Dodd-Frank authorities, and federal consumer financial law, and served as the student lending lead for the Legal Division. Fulford has a B.A. from Yale University and earned her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. Fulford began work on May 20.

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