Robert S. Adler

Robert S. Adler is a consumer advocate in the United States. He is a member of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and formerly served as its acting chairman.

Adler was a Professor of Legal Studies and the Luther H. Hodges, Jr. Scholar in Law & Ethics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. He has served as the Associate Dean of the MBA Program and as Associate Dean for the School’s Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Program. A recipient of teaching awards both within the business school and university-wide, Adler’s research and teaching focus on consumer protection, product liability, ethics, regulation and negotiation. Before joining the UNC faculty, Adler served as Counsel on the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce where he advised on CPSC legislative and oversight issues under the leadership of Henry Waxman. Prior to that, he spent eleven years (from 1973-1984) as an attorney-advisor to two commissioners at the CPSC in Washington, D.C. One of the commissioners he worked for was David O. Pittle, an original appointee at the inception of the CPSC. Before joining the CPSC’s staff, Adler served as a Deputy Attorney General for the Pennsylvania Justice Department, where he headed the southwest regional office of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection. Adler has been elected six times to the board of directors of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. He also served on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team and co-authored the agency review report on the CPSC. Adler graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received his J.D. from the University of Michigan.

During his tenure at the CPSC, Adler has strongly supported addressing safety concerns for senior citizens, arguing that “injuries and death from consumer products begin to accelerate dramatically once [consumers] hit age 75.” Adler has also criticized provisions in the CPSC’s organic statute that govern information-sharing by the CPSC.

• Adler, Robert S. (14 August 2011). "Opinion: Moving forward on product safety - Robert S. Adler". Politico. Retrieved 16 July 2013. 
• Adler, Robert S.; Nord, Nancy; Stratton, Harold D. "Hal" (4 June 2010). "Consumer Product Safety Commission podcast". Federalist Society. Retrieved 16 July 2013. 
• Adler, Robert S. (Winter 1989). "From "model agency" to basket case - can the Consumer Product Safety Commission be Redeemed?". Administrative Law Review. 41 (1): 61.