Jodi Gardner

Professor Jodi Gardner is interested in the law’s relationship with inequality, particularly how apparently neutral private law rules can exacerbate existing vulnerabilities.

In her recently published monograph, The Future of High-Cost Credit: Regulating Payday Lending, Jodi explores the theoretical grounding, policy initiatives and interdisciplinary perspectives associated with this potentially exploitive and harmful market. In his Foreword to the book, Lord Leggatt notes that Jodi's research is 'philosophical and intensely practical', commenting that 'the questions raised and the thoughts provoked have ramifications that extend more broadly to how the balance should be struck in our law and our society between freedom of contract and the protection of consumers'.

Jodi’s research more generally focuses on the relationship between the private law and social policy. She analyses how private law doctrines interact with social welfare, including the limitations of doctrinal law in responding to the challenges posed by poverty and inequality. Her research has covered topics such as inequality in contract law, vulnerability in tort law, the impact of austerity measures, debt collection contracts, the effect of technological developments on equality and financial exclusion, and concurrent liability in tort and contract.

Known for her interdisciplinary approach to research, Jodi is currently working on a project with Professors Mia Gray (Cambridge) and Frederick Wherry (Princeton) looking at the post-pandemic economic system, focusing on its relationship with debt and inequality. She has recently submitted two edited collections with Hart Publishing, one on the Landmark Cases in Consumer Law (with Iain Ramsay) and the second on Politics, Policy and Private Law (with Sarah Worthington).