The North Carolina Banking Institute has trained generations of banking and commercial law practitioners. This spring, its students started showing up in their reading lists. 

Four UNC School of Law students earned recognition from practitioners and leading publications this spring for scholarship that takes on real problems in consumer finance. Two student notes from the North Carolina Banking Institute journal, Carolina Law’s student-edited journal published in connection with the Center for Banking and Finance’s annual Banking Institute, were featured in back-to-back posts on NC Bankruptcy Expert, a widely read blog for legal professionals. Two more students placed work with prominent national practitioner journals. 

The pieces share a common thread: each one starts with a gap in the law and asks what should be done about it. 

Gabrielle Lanoue’s note examines a problem many consumers face but few understand. When inaccurate information appears on a credit report, the law requires the companies that originally furnished that information to investigate disputes, but the question of how far that obligation extends has long been unsettled. A 2025 Fourth Circuit ruling took up that question, adopting what courts call an “objectively and readily verifiable” standard. Lanoue argues the decision offers the most faithful reading of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and positions the Fourth Circuit as a national leader on the issue. “Accuracy in credit reporting depends on meaningful review at the source,” she said. “Furnishers should not be expected to act like courts, but when the information can be checked against records they already have, they should have a responsibility to investigate it.” 

Carsen Masterton’s note takes on a vulnerability closer to home. A 2005 amendment to North Carolina’s Debt Adjusting Act created an unintended opening for so-called “façade law firms” to collect fees from struggling debtors while delivering little or no real legal help. Masterton traces how the loophole developed and argues the North Carolina State Bar is best positioned to close it. “It was disheartening to read stories where North Carolina law unintentionally permitted bad actors to take advantage of vulnerable consumers who were simply working to improve their financial situation,” Masterton said. “I hope my Note encourages state lawmakers to fully consider the ramifications of the laws they enact.” 

NC Bankruptcy Expert editor Ed Boltz, a practicing bankruptcy attorney, featured both pieces in late April, offering substantive commentary on their relevance to practitioners, an unusual distinction for student-written work.The student recognition extends beyond the journal. Mackenzie Leonard will write a piece for the  “Student Gallery” column of the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal on the GENIUS Act’s bankruptcy provisions. This essay, based on her Banking Institute journal note, is set to publish in September. Hunter Wright’s independent study on bad-faith dismissals in bankruptcy was accepted by the Norton Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law and is expected to appear in late 2026 or early 2027. 

Kara Bruce, Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of Law and  Lissa L. Broome, Burton Craige Distinguished Professor, Director of the Center for Banking and Finance, and faculty advisor to the North Carolina Banking Institute said the breadth of recognition speaks to what the journal is built to do. “It is great to see the student work published in the North Carolina Banking Institute journal recognized for its impact on real-world problems,” Broome said. “Our students’ success reflects the extraordinary depth of talent, rigor, and intellectual curiosity in the UNC student body,” Bruce added. “We are immensely proud of these students and excited to see how their work will influence the field.”