Partner, Cooley
Rob McDowell advises telecommunications, media and technology clients on their most significant regulatory, legal and business matters. As a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and a highly regarded industry leader, Rob has been at the forefront of the most complex and groundbreaking issues facing telecommunications.
Mr. McDowell was first appointed to the FCC by President George W. Bush in 2006 and again by President Obama in 2009. He was unanimously confirmed both times by the US Senate. During his tenure, Mr. McDowell led efforts to expand consumer access to spectrum through his work on the two largest wireless auctions in US history at the time, played a key role in the 2009 digital television transition and led efforts to establish the first federal civil rights rule in a generation by creating a ban on racially discriminatory practices in broadcast advertising. He also worked extensively on several large and complex mergers, including Sirius/XM and Comcast/NBC-Universal.
He is an advocate for internet freedom, serving on the US delegation to the 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications and exposing an international bid to regulate vital aspects of the Internet through multilateral treaty-based organizations. Mr. McDowell authored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal opposing multilateral internet regulation that led to a resolution passed unanimously in the House and Senate, as well as the ultimate defeat of the international bid at a treaty negation in Dubai later that year.
Prior to the FCC, Mr. McDowell was senior vice president for CompTel, the Competitive Telecommunications Association, where he led advocacy efforts before several government agencies, the White House and Congress.
Mr. McDowell is often called upon for speaking engagements and frequently appears on TV and radio. He has written opinion pieces for many high-profile publications, including the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
Managing Member, Aviation Perspectives LLC
U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
Judge Williams practiced law in New York City (at the firm of Debevoise Plimpton and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney) and then taught law at the University of Colorado Law School from 1969 to 1986, with visiting years at UCLA, SMU, and the University of Chicago (where he was also a fellow in law and economics). He was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1986. His most recent book is a biography of Vasily Maklakov, The Reformer: How One Liberal Fought to Preempt the Russian Revolution (Encounter Books, 2017).
Denver Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Raymond L. Gifford counsels communications, electric and gas utilities, and information technology companies on state and federal aspects of regulation, administrative law, and competition policy. He is an expert in public utilities law, and the law and economics of regulation of network industries. Mr. Gifford’s law and policy work focuses on the convergence of broadband communications and energy, as well as environmental policy as it applies to the electric industry. He represents clients in state and federal courts and agencies, and serves as an expert witness on utility regulation and its history. He is also a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship, and Co-Directs the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics at University of Colorado Law School.
Mr. Gifford served as Chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission from 1999-2003. Following that, he served as President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington DC-based think-tank that studied the digital revolution as it relates to regulation of network industries. He entered the regulatory law world as First Assistant Attorney General in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. He clerked for the Honorable Richard P. Matsch of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Mr. Gifford has authored a number of articles on communications law, public utility regulation and competition policy in network industries. He is a graduate of University of Chicago Law School and St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute
U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
Judge Williams practiced law in New York City (at the firm of Debevoise Plimpton and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney) and then taught law at the University of Colorado Law School from 1969 to 1986, with visiting years at UCLA, SMU, and the University of Chicago (where he was also a fellow in law and economics). He was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1986. His most recent book is a biography of Vasily Maklakov, The Reformer: How One Liberal Fought to Preempt the Russian Revolution (Encounter Books, 2017).
Founder and Chairman, Criterion Economics, LLC
J. Gregory Sidak is founder and chairman of Criterion Economics, L.L.C. Sidak is an expert on antitrust, regulation, patents and intellectual property, FRAND royalties for standard-essential patents, telecommunications, energy, and contractual disputes, and on damages and valuation in complex litigation and international arbitration generally. He has served clients throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. He has also served as a court-appointed neutral economic expert on damages and liability. Sidak is also a founding co-editor of the Journal of Competition Law & Economics, the preeminent international journal on antitrust law and economics, which has been published quarterly by the Oxford University Press since 2005.
Sidak studied law and economics at Stanford University and served as Judge Richard Posner’s first law clerk. He formerly was a staff member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and was deputy general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission. Sidak has previously held academic positions at Yale University, Georgetown University, and the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. His books and articles have been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Canada, and the European Commission.
Consultant in Media Policy and Law
Jane Mago began her communications law career in 1978 as a staff attorney at the Federal Communications Commission. She stayed at the FCC for more than 26 years, serving in many high level roles, including General Counsel, Chief of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, Deputy Chief of the Enforcement Bureau, Chief of Staff for Commissioners Rachelle Chong and Michael Powell, and Legal Advisor to Commissioner Anne Jones. During her FCC career, she also worked as an appellate litigator defending the FCC’s decisions in such matters as Radio and TV Deregulation, Broadcast Indecency and Must-Carry Rules.
Jane joined the National Association of Broadcasters in 2004 where she stayed until retiring in October 2014 as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel. She led the NAB legal team during many significant shifts in the regulatory landscape, including two rounds of review of the broadcast ownership rules.
Jane is a member of the New York Bar. She has an extensive background in appellate litigation and expertise in Constitutional issues (particularly First Amendment matters), FCC ownership rules, political broadcasting, EEO, administrative law, enforcement and licensing matters.
Jane holds BA, MA and JD degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
President, The Free State Foundation
Randolph J. May is Founder and President of The Free State Foundation. The Free State Foundation is an independent, non-profit free market-oriented think tank founded in 2006.
From October 1999-May 2006, May was a Senior Fellow and Director of Communications Policy Studies at The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank. Prior to joining PFF, he practiced communications, administrative, and regulatory law as a partner at major national law firms. From 1978 to 1981, May served as Assistant General Counsel and Associate General Counsel at the Federal Communication Commission.
May has held numerous leadership positions in bar associations. He is a past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Mr. May also has served as a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States and currently is a Senior Fellow at ACUS.
Mr. May has published more than two hundred articles and essays on communications, administrative and constitutional law topics. He is author of A Call for a Radical New Communications Policy: Proposals for Free Market Reform, and co-author of #CommActUpdate: A Communications Law Fit for the Digital Age and The Constitutional Foundations of Intellectual Property. Mr. May is editor of two books, Communications Law and Policy in the Digital Age: The Next Five Years and New Directions in Communications Policy. In addition, he is the co-editor of two other books, Net Neutrality or Net Neutering: Should Broadband Internet Services Be Regulated? and Communications Deregulation and FCC Reform. In the past, Mr. May has written regular columns on legal and regulatory affairs for Legal Times and the National Law Journal, leading national legal periodicals.
He received his A.B. from Duke University and his J.D. from Duke Law School, where he serves as a member of the Board of Visitors.
U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
Judge Williams practiced law in New York City (at the firm of Debevoise Plimpton and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney) and then taught law at the University of Colorado Law School from 1969 to 1986, with visiting years at UCLA, SMU, and the University of Chicago (where he was also a fellow in law and economics). He was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1986. His most recent book is a biography of Vasily Maklakov, The Reformer: How One Liberal Fought to Preempt the Russian Revolution (Encounter Books, 2017).
The Regulatory State and American Technology
David A. Gross, Roy E. Hoffinger, Robert M. McDowell, James T. Miller, Stephen F. Williams
2007 National Lawyers Convention
The Federalist Society's Telecommunications Practice Group presented this panel discussion at the 2007 Annual National...
Media Ownership Rules - Transcript
Mark N. Cooper, David Reinhard, Raymond L. Gifford, Stephen F. Williams
The Telecommunications Practice Group sponsored this panel during the 2003 National Lawyers Convention on November...
The FCC Versus the Constitution - Transcript
Andrew Schwartzman, J. Gregory Sidak, Jane Mago, Randolph May, Stephen F. Williams
The Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group sponsored this panel during the 2001 National Lawyers...