Partner, Antitrust and Competition, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Maureen Ohlhausen is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she advises industry-leading clients on complex antitrust and litigation matters, with a focus on high-profile cases. Sought after for her depth of experience on antitrust and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)-related issues, Maureen is known for her relationships with officials in the U.S. and abroad.
After finishing law school and clerking at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Maureen joined the FTC in 1997. She held a series of roles at the agency over the next 12 years, rising to the position of Director of the FTC Office of Policy Planning, where she led the agency’s work on e-commerce and headed the FTC’s Internet Access Task Force, which produced an influential report analyzing competition and consumer protection legal issues in the broadband and internet sectors. She then went into private practice at a leading telecommunications law firm, where she headed the FTC practice group.
In 2012, Maureen was confirmed by the Senate as a Commissioner of the FTC and was appointed Acting Chairman in January 2017, a role she held until May 2018. As Acting Chairman, Maureen directed all aspects of the agency’s antitrust work, including merger review, conduct enforcement, and all consumer protection enforcement, with an emphasis on privacy and technology issues. Under her leadership, the FTC won several influential merger challenges in court and reached a number of key digital privacy settlements.
To date, Maureen is the only FTC Commissioner to have received the Robert Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to the FTC.
Following the end of her term at the FTC, and immediately prior to joining Wilson Sonsini, Maureen was chair of the global antitrust and competition practice at Baker Botts, based in that firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
A recognized thought leader, Maureen is a frequent author and speaker, and is often quoted by leading print and broadcast media on antitrust, FTC, and privacy and data security matters. She has published dozens of articles on antitrust, privacy, intellectual property, regulation, FTC litigation, telecommunications, and international law issues in prestigious publications. During her tenure at the FTC and in private practice, she testified more than two dozen times before Congress, including before the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Antitrust Sub-Committee. She also testified before the Antitrust Modernization Commission.
Partner, Mayer Brown LLP
Howard Waltzman focuses his practice on communications and Internet law and commercial transactions in the United States and other key international markets. He represents some of the nation's leading communications service providers, manufacturers, and trade associations in commercial transactions, as well as in regulatory and legislative matters, including with respect to Internet services, spectrum policy, privacy, video programming, wireline competition, and communications-related homeland security. He also represents investors on these and other communications-related matters.
Howard's experience includes drafting regulatory pleadings, comments and license applications; legislation, Congressional testimony, and legislative history; and commercial agreements. He appears personally before Members of Congress, Cabinet department officials, FCC Commissioners, and key Congressional and FCC staff. Howard also advises clients and assists them in presenting their positions during major FCC rulemakings, throughout the legislative process, and in the context of commercial transactions. He represents clients on matters involving the International Telecommunication Union's rules and procedures.
Prior to joining Mayer Brown in 2007, Howard served as Chief Counsel, Telecommunications and the Internet, for the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee (2003-2006) and as Telecommunications Counsel (2001-2003). Prior to working for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, he served as General Counsel for Senator Sam Brownback (1996-2001).
Net Neutrality vs. Net Reality: Why an Evidence-Based Approach to Enforcement, And Not More Regulation, Could Protect Innovation on the Web
Maureen K. Ohlhausen
Related Links: Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Hearing on “Network Neutrality” (testimony of...
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 in the Twenty-first Century
Howard Waltzman
I. Introduction Prior to 1996, local telephony was perceived to be a natural monopoly, subjecting...