Senior Advisor, Burke Law Group
Anne Idsal Austin is an environmental health and safety attorney. Founder of Austin Legal & Public Affairs. Anne served in the highest ranks of state and federal government, where she shaped environmental and energy policy at the highest levels of government. She provides strategic counseling and policy guidance in the complex arenas of environmental and natural resources law. She handles complex environmental and natural resources litigation. Her experience includes air, water and waste governmental enforcement actions; citizen suits under RCRA, CERCLA, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act; climate change litigation; toxic tort lawsuits involving chemical exposures, dust exposures and industrial accidents and toxic tort claims;.
Anne served as the principal deputy assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air & Radiation (OAR). In this role, she had a significant impact on U.S. clean air policy and regulation. Additionally, she served as the EPA Regional Administrator for Region 6, responsible for the implementation of federal environmental statutes and programs across Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and New Mexico. Before serving in the federal government, Anne was the Chief Clerk and Deputy Land Commissioner for the Texas General Land Office and served as the general counsel for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Prior to joining Burke Law Group and founding Austin Legal & Public Affairs, Anne was environmental partner with an AMLAW100 firm, where she represented regulated clients to position them for success before state and federal regulatory agencies.
General Counsel, Senior Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
Zhonette brings a quarter-century of litigation experience to NCLA. After a federal clerkship, she spent many years litigating at large law firms in Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colorado, before beginning public interest litigation in 2018.
Zhonette has litigated in state, federal, and international venues and in matters ranging from pro bono custody issues to multi-district and class action cases for Fortune 100 companies. Zhonette spent the first part of her career focused on high-stakes complex commercial litigation and white-collar defense. Since changing her legal practice to taming the Administrative State, Zhonette has focused on the Administrative Procedure Act, natural resources, takings issues and other constitutional claims.
Zhonette is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, the State of Colorado, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and various federal courts.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC
Abhishek (Abhi) Kambli is a partner at Holtzman Vogel who represents clients in high-stakes appellate and complex litigation, constitutional challenges, and matters involving state attorneys general and federal agencies. He is one of a handful of lawyers nationally who has both led federal litigation from inside the Department of Justice and multi-state coalition work from a State Attorney General’s office—giving clients a 360-degree perspective on government enforcement, regulatory challenges, and constitutional advocacy.
Prior to joining Holtzman Vogel, Abhi served as Deputy Associate Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, where he acted as lead counsel in high-priority matters for the Trump Administration, oversaw the Department’s civil components on behalf of the Associate Attorney General, advised the White House Counsel’s Office and federal agencies on litigation risk and strategy, and developed the Department’s national affirmative civil litigation strategy.
Earlier, he served as Deputy Attorney General and Division Chief of the Special Litigation and Constitutional Issues Division at the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, where he launched the division and led multi-state coalitions in trial and appellate courts nationwide, including the United States Supreme Court. He began his career as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Indiana, prosecuting more than 100 federal cases from investigation through appeal.
Abhi is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps, having served on active duty and in the reserves since 2013. His military service includes criminal trials as both prosecutor and defense attorney, appellate representation before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and representation of a high-profile detainee before the Military Commissions at Guantánamo Bay.
Attorney and Legal Commentator
John Shu is an attorney and legal commentator. His focus areas include constitutional law, securities & corporate law, antitrust law, administrative law, politics, and international affairs. Mr. Shu has lectured and published on a wide variety of issues.
Mr. Shu served President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush. He also served Judge Stanley Sporkin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was Director of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency, and Judge Paul Roney, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, who was Presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.
Mr. Shu is a member of the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Foreign Policy Association.
Senior Advisor, Burke Law Group
Anne Idsal Austin is an environmental health and safety attorney. Founder of Austin Legal & Public Affairs. Anne served in the highest ranks of state and federal government, where she shaped environmental and energy policy at the highest levels of government. She provides strategic counseling and policy guidance in the complex arenas of environmental and natural resources law. She handles complex environmental and natural resources litigation. Her experience includes air, water and waste governmental enforcement actions; citizen suits under RCRA, CERCLA, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act; climate change litigation; toxic tort lawsuits involving chemical exposures, dust exposures and industrial accidents and toxic tort claims;.
Anne served as the principal deputy assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air & Radiation (OAR). In this role, she had a significant impact on U.S. clean air policy and regulation. Additionally, she served as the EPA Regional Administrator for Region 6, responsible for the implementation of federal environmental statutes and programs across Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and New Mexico. Before serving in the federal government, Anne was the Chief Clerk and Deputy Land Commissioner for the Texas General Land Office and served as the general counsel for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Prior to joining Burke Law Group and founding Austin Legal & Public Affairs, Anne was environmental partner with an AMLAW100 firm, where she represented regulated clients to position them for success before state and federal regulatory agencies.
General Counsel, Senior Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
Zhonette brings a quarter-century of litigation experience to NCLA. After a federal clerkship, she spent many years litigating at large law firms in Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colorado, before beginning public interest litigation in 2018.
Zhonette has litigated in state, federal, and international venues and in matters ranging from pro bono custody issues to multi-district and class action cases for Fortune 100 companies. Zhonette spent the first part of her career focused on high-stakes complex commercial litigation and white-collar defense. Since changing her legal practice to taming the Administrative State, Zhonette has focused on the Administrative Procedure Act, natural resources, takings issues and other constitutional claims.
Zhonette is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, the State of Colorado, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and various federal courts.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC
Abhishek (Abhi) Kambli is a partner at Holtzman Vogel who represents clients in high-stakes appellate and complex litigation, constitutional challenges, and matters involving state attorneys general and federal agencies. He is one of a handful of lawyers nationally who has both led federal litigation from inside the Department of Justice and multi-state coalition work from a State Attorney General’s office—giving clients a 360-degree perspective on government enforcement, regulatory challenges, and constitutional advocacy.
Prior to joining Holtzman Vogel, Abhi served as Deputy Associate Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, where he acted as lead counsel in high-priority matters for the Trump Administration, oversaw the Department’s civil components on behalf of the Associate Attorney General, advised the White House Counsel’s Office and federal agencies on litigation risk and strategy, and developed the Department’s national affirmative civil litigation strategy.
Earlier, he served as Deputy Attorney General and Division Chief of the Special Litigation and Constitutional Issues Division at the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, where he launched the division and led multi-state coalitions in trial and appellate courts nationwide, including the United States Supreme Court. He began his career as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Indiana, prosecuting more than 100 federal cases from investigation through appeal.
Abhi is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps, having served on active duty and in the reserves since 2013. His military service includes criminal trials as both prosecutor and defense attorney, appellate representation before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and representation of a high-profile detainee before the Military Commissions at Guantánamo Bay.
Attorney and Legal Commentator
John Shu is an attorney and legal commentator. His focus areas include constitutional law, securities & corporate law, antitrust law, administrative law, politics, and international affairs. Mr. Shu has lectured and published on a wide variety of issues.
Mr. Shu served President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush. He also served Judge Stanley Sporkin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was Director of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency, and Judge Paul Roney, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, who was Presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.
Mr. Shu is a member of the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Foreign Policy Association.
Head of AI Policy, Abundance Institute
Neil Chilson is the Head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute. Prior to this position, he served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity. Chilson is a lawyer, computer scientist, and author of the book “Getting Out of Control: Emergent Leadership in a Complex World.”
Chilson was previously the senior research fellow for Technology and Innovation at Stand Together, where he guided efforts to understand and promote the legal and cultural paradigms that best enable people to discover, innovate, and improve all our lives.
Before Stand Together, Chilson was the Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, where he focused on the economics of privacy and blockchain-related issues. Previously, he was an attorney advisor to Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen. In both roles he advised Chairman Ohlhausen and worked with staff on nearly every major technology-related case, report, workshop, or other FTC proceeding since January 2014. Neil joined the FTC from telecom firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer. Neil is frequently quoted by the press and his work has appeared in numerous news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USAToday, and Newsweek. Neil has a J.D. from The George Washington Law School, a M.S. in computer science from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in computer science from Harding University.
Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Georgetown Law
Jessica Rich, former Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, spent more than two and a half decades battling deceptive and fraudulent business practices at the Federal Trade Commission. She is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and well-respected consumer champions in the United States. Rich led the expansion of the FTC’s expertise in technology through the creation of the Office of Technology Research and Investigations (OTech). She also oversaw the development of influential FTC policy reports, including reports on the Internet of Things, Big Data, data brokers, mobile apps, and cross-device tracking.
Most recently, Rich served as the Vice President of Consumer Policy and Mobilization at Consumer Reports, where she led the organization's efforts to address the most urgent threats and pain points consumers face today, such as data privacy and security, health care costs, food safety, corporate accountability, and fairness and transparency in financial markets. She is a graduate of New York University Law School (1987) and Harvard University (1983).
Rich’s work at the Institute includes writing in her areas of expertise, participating in policy convenings, and serving as a resource to the Georgetown Law community.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Sean Royall serves as the firm’s Global Practice Head for Antitrust and Consumer Protection. He has spent his entire career handling complex litigation matters and government investigations and is among the country’s most experienced and highly regarded antitrust lawyers. He focuses broadly on antitrust and consumer protection litigation, government investigations, and counseling, and is a highly experienced courtroom litigator with a stellar track record for winning high-stakes cases. Sean is equally effective navigating complex government investigations and advising clients on the details of a wide range of strategic antitrust and consumer protection issues.
Sean previously served at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the Deputy Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. His antitrust career, both in government and private practice, has included work on many major mergers and acquisitions, as well as lead roles in complex litigation matters that often intersect with other areas of law, including patent law, various federal regulatory regimes, consumer protection, and privacy. Sean has deep experience representing clients across a range of industries, including biopharma, healthcare, e-commerce, telecom, financial services, energy, transportation, software, and semiconductors. In addition to his work on U.S. antitrust and consumer protection matters, Sean has worked and advised on many similar cases and investigations in Europe and other parts of the world.
While in government, Sean was the lead trial lawyer in the FTC’s landmark monopolization suit against computer chip maker Rambus Inc., a novel case that established new legal standards applicable to patent disclosure within industry standard-setting consortiums. More recently, Sean played an important role on the trial team for AT&T in the company’s victory over the Department of Justice’s antitrust challenge to AT&T’s US$85 billion acquisition of Time Warner. In addition to his trial experience, Sean has successfully argued appeals in courts around the country.
Sean also has a nationally prominent reputation for his work in the consumer protection area, where he has particularly deep experience handling FTC investigations and associated litigation focused on advertising, marketing, privacy, and data security issues. In 2018-19, for example, Sean served as lead counsel for Facebook in connection with the FTC’s extensive privacy-related investigation and subsequent settlement. He brings to this area of his practice deep knowledge of applicable law and agency practice, as well as the skills of an accomplished litigator.
For well more than a decade, Sean has been given a Band 1 ranking by Chambers USA (2007-2023), which has described him as “top of the field,” “a star in the antitrust world both in counseling and litigation,” and an “extremely talented lawyer and exceptional litigator.”
Sean’s other recognitions include being ranked in Chambers Global for Antitrust – USA (2020-2023); endorsed as “Highly Recommended (Texas)” by Global Competition Review (2022); named a “Litigation Star” for Intellectual Property, Competition/Antitrust, Appellate, and Commercial work by Benchmark Litigation (2023). He is named in Who’s Who Legal in Competition (2021); The Best Lawyers in America as “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” (2015, 2018); and The Best Lawyers in America as “Litigation: Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” (2019). He has also been named to the “All-Star List” by BTI Services (2017) and deemed a “National Antitrust MVP” by Law360 (2015); a “Mergers and Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazer” by National Law Journal (2015); and a “Life Sciences Star” in Antitrust (2022) and Competition and Antitrust (2018–2019) by LMG Life Sciences. Sean was also named one of Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Litigators in America” in 2022.
Partner, Reed Smith LLP
Gerry is a partner in Reed Smith's IP, Tech & Data Group. He focuses his practice on corporate governance, intellectual property, and Internet issues, especially as they relate to privacy, information security and consumer protection. An experienced and pragmatic litigator, Gerry focuses a significant part of his practice on prelitigation and advisory services relating to business strategy for privacy by design, data protection, intellectual property, and emerging technologies and markets, often acting as outside product counsel to leading innovators and disruptive technology companies.
Gerry is designated as a Certified Information Privacy Professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. In recent years, he has helped many automotive, health information technology, data management, advertising and consumer technology companies with information management and protection strategy, including some of the most popular consumer products and services of the past decade.
Partner, Briscoe Prows Kao Ivester & Bazel LLP
Tony Francois is experienced in Water and Real Property Law, Land Use and Zoning, Environmental Regulation, Natural Resources Development, Agricultural Law, and Constitutional Law. He has represented homeowners, builders, farmers and ranchers, trade associations, and water districts in administrative, civil, and criminal proceedings before state and federal administrative agencies and state and federal trial and appellate courts. He is a member of the California State Bar and the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California and the Districts of New Mexico and North Dakota, and has litigated cases in federal courts in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals. He has appeared before the Supreme Courts of California, Idaho, Nevada, and the United States.
Prior to attending law school, he served as an infantry officer in the United States Army, and was stationed in the former West Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Tony was an Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation from 2012 to 2021. He was a lobbyist for 10 years, first with California Farm Bureau Federation from 2003 to 2007, and then with KP Public Affairs from 2007 to 2012. He was an attorney at McQuaid, Bedford & Van Zandt in San Francisco from 1999 – 2003.
Senior Advisor, Burke Law Group
Anne Idsal Austin is an environmental health and safety attorney. Founder of Austin Legal & Public Affairs. Anne served in the highest ranks of state and federal government, where she shaped environmental and energy policy at the highest levels of government. She provides strategic counseling and policy guidance in the complex arenas of environmental and natural resources law. She handles complex environmental and natural resources litigation. Her experience includes air, water and waste governmental enforcement actions; citizen suits under RCRA, CERCLA, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act; climate change litigation; toxic tort lawsuits involving chemical exposures, dust exposures and industrial accidents and toxic tort claims;.
Anne served as the principal deputy assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air & Radiation (OAR). In this role, she had a significant impact on U.S. clean air policy and regulation. Additionally, she served as the EPA Regional Administrator for Region 6, responsible for the implementation of federal environmental statutes and programs across Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and New Mexico. Before serving in the federal government, Anne was the Chief Clerk and Deputy Land Commissioner for the Texas General Land Office and served as the general counsel for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Prior to joining Burke Law Group and founding Austin Legal & Public Affairs, Anne was environmental partner with an AMLAW100 firm, where she represented regulated clients to position them for success before state and federal regulatory agencies.
General Counsel, Senior Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
Zhonette brings a quarter-century of litigation experience to NCLA. After a federal clerkship, she spent many years litigating at large law firms in Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colorado, before beginning public interest litigation in 2018.
Zhonette has litigated in state, federal, and international venues and in matters ranging from pro bono custody issues to multi-district and class action cases for Fortune 100 companies. Zhonette spent the first part of her career focused on high-stakes complex commercial litigation and white-collar defense. Since changing her legal practice to taming the Administrative State, Zhonette has focused on the Administrative Procedure Act, natural resources, takings issues and other constitutional claims.
Zhonette is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, the State of Colorado, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and various federal courts.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC
Abhishek (Abhi) Kambli is a partner at Holtzman Vogel who represents clients in high-stakes appellate and complex litigation, constitutional challenges, and matters involving state attorneys general and federal agencies. He is one of a handful of lawyers nationally who has both led federal litigation from inside the Department of Justice and multi-state coalition work from a State Attorney General’s office—giving clients a 360-degree perspective on government enforcement, regulatory challenges, and constitutional advocacy.
Prior to joining Holtzman Vogel, Abhi served as Deputy Associate Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, where he acted as lead counsel in high-priority matters for the Trump Administration, oversaw the Department’s civil components on behalf of the Associate Attorney General, advised the White House Counsel’s Office and federal agencies on litigation risk and strategy, and developed the Department’s national affirmative civil litigation strategy.
Earlier, he served as Deputy Attorney General and Division Chief of the Special Litigation and Constitutional Issues Division at the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, where he launched the division and led multi-state coalitions in trial and appellate courts nationwide, including the United States Supreme Court. He began his career as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Indiana, prosecuting more than 100 federal cases from investigation through appeal.
Abhi is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps, having served on active duty and in the reserves since 2013. His military service includes criminal trials as both prosecutor and defense attorney, appellate representation before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and representation of a high-profile detainee before the Military Commissions at Guantánamo Bay.
Attorney and Legal Commentator
John Shu is an attorney and legal commentator. His focus areas include constitutional law, securities & corporate law, antitrust law, administrative law, politics, and international affairs. Mr. Shu has lectured and published on a wide variety of issues.
Mr. Shu served President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush. He also served Judge Stanley Sporkin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was Director of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency, and Judge Paul Roney, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, who was Presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.
Mr. Shu is a member of the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Foreign Policy Association.
Head of AI Policy, Abundance Institute
Neil Chilson is the Head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute. Prior to this position, he served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity. Chilson is a lawyer, computer scientist, and author of the book “Getting Out of Control: Emergent Leadership in a Complex World.”
Chilson was previously the senior research fellow for Technology and Innovation at Stand Together, where he guided efforts to understand and promote the legal and cultural paradigms that best enable people to discover, innovate, and improve all our lives.
Before Stand Together, Chilson was the Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, where he focused on the economics of privacy and blockchain-related issues. Previously, he was an attorney advisor to Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen. In both roles he advised Chairman Ohlhausen and worked with staff on nearly every major technology-related case, report, workshop, or other FTC proceeding since January 2014. Neil joined the FTC from telecom firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer. Neil is frequently quoted by the press and his work has appeared in numerous news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USAToday, and Newsweek. Neil has a J.D. from The George Washington Law School, a M.S. in computer science from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in computer science from Harding University.
Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Georgetown Law
Jessica Rich, former Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, spent more than two and a half decades battling deceptive and fraudulent business practices at the Federal Trade Commission. She is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and well-respected consumer champions in the United States. Rich led the expansion of the FTC’s expertise in technology through the creation of the Office of Technology Research and Investigations (OTech). She also oversaw the development of influential FTC policy reports, including reports on the Internet of Things, Big Data, data brokers, mobile apps, and cross-device tracking.
Most recently, Rich served as the Vice President of Consumer Policy and Mobilization at Consumer Reports, where she led the organization's efforts to address the most urgent threats and pain points consumers face today, such as data privacy and security, health care costs, food safety, corporate accountability, and fairness and transparency in financial markets. She is a graduate of New York University Law School (1987) and Harvard University (1983).
Rich’s work at the Institute includes writing in her areas of expertise, participating in policy convenings, and serving as a resource to the Georgetown Law community.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Sean Royall serves as the firm’s Global Practice Head for Antitrust and Consumer Protection. He has spent his entire career handling complex litigation matters and government investigations and is among the country’s most experienced and highly regarded antitrust lawyers. He focuses broadly on antitrust and consumer protection litigation, government investigations, and counseling, and is a highly experienced courtroom litigator with a stellar track record for winning high-stakes cases. Sean is equally effective navigating complex government investigations and advising clients on the details of a wide range of strategic antitrust and consumer protection issues.
Sean previously served at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the Deputy Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. His antitrust career, both in government and private practice, has included work on many major mergers and acquisitions, as well as lead roles in complex litigation matters that often intersect with other areas of law, including patent law, various federal regulatory regimes, consumer protection, and privacy. Sean has deep experience representing clients across a range of industries, including biopharma, healthcare, e-commerce, telecom, financial services, energy, transportation, software, and semiconductors. In addition to his work on U.S. antitrust and consumer protection matters, Sean has worked and advised on many similar cases and investigations in Europe and other parts of the world.
While in government, Sean was the lead trial lawyer in the FTC’s landmark monopolization suit against computer chip maker Rambus Inc., a novel case that established new legal standards applicable to patent disclosure within industry standard-setting consortiums. More recently, Sean played an important role on the trial team for AT&T in the company’s victory over the Department of Justice’s antitrust challenge to AT&T’s US$85 billion acquisition of Time Warner. In addition to his trial experience, Sean has successfully argued appeals in courts around the country.
Sean also has a nationally prominent reputation for his work in the consumer protection area, where he has particularly deep experience handling FTC investigations and associated litigation focused on advertising, marketing, privacy, and data security issues. In 2018-19, for example, Sean served as lead counsel for Facebook in connection with the FTC’s extensive privacy-related investigation and subsequent settlement. He brings to this area of his practice deep knowledge of applicable law and agency practice, as well as the skills of an accomplished litigator.
For well more than a decade, Sean has been given a Band 1 ranking by Chambers USA (2007-2023), which has described him as “top of the field,” “a star in the antitrust world both in counseling and litigation,” and an “extremely talented lawyer and exceptional litigator.”
Sean’s other recognitions include being ranked in Chambers Global for Antitrust – USA (2020-2023); endorsed as “Highly Recommended (Texas)” by Global Competition Review (2022); named a “Litigation Star” for Intellectual Property, Competition/Antitrust, Appellate, and Commercial work by Benchmark Litigation (2023). He is named in Who’s Who Legal in Competition (2021); The Best Lawyers in America as “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” (2015, 2018); and The Best Lawyers in America as “Litigation: Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” (2019). He has also been named to the “All-Star List” by BTI Services (2017) and deemed a “National Antitrust MVP” by Law360 (2015); a “Mergers and Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazer” by National Law Journal (2015); and a “Life Sciences Star” in Antitrust (2022) and Competition and Antitrust (2018–2019) by LMG Life Sciences. Sean was also named one of Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Litigators in America” in 2022.
Partner, Reed Smith LLP
Gerry is a partner in Reed Smith's IP, Tech & Data Group. He focuses his practice on corporate governance, intellectual property, and Internet issues, especially as they relate to privacy, information security and consumer protection. An experienced and pragmatic litigator, Gerry focuses a significant part of his practice on prelitigation and advisory services relating to business strategy for privacy by design, data protection, intellectual property, and emerging technologies and markets, often acting as outside product counsel to leading innovators and disruptive technology companies.
Gerry is designated as a Certified Information Privacy Professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. In recent years, he has helped many automotive, health information technology, data management, advertising and consumer technology companies with information management and protection strategy, including some of the most popular consumer products and services of the past decade.
Friendly Fire: Cy Pres, Consent Decrees, and Trump v. IRS
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Controversy has swirled for years over litigation in which a plaintiff sues a friendly government...
Friendly Fire: Cy Pres, Consent Decrees, and Trump v. IRS
Anne Austin, Zhonette M. Brown, Abhishek Kambli, John Shu
Controversy has swirled for years over litigation in which a plaintiff sues a friendly government...
Friendly Fire: Cy Pres, Consent Decrees, and Trump v. IRS
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Deep Dive Episode 109 – Regulating by Consent Agreement: Examining FTC’s YouTube Settlement and Beyond
Neil Chilson, Jessica Rich, Sean Royall, Gerard Stegmaier
On September 4, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission announced sweeping regulatory changes to the operation...
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Executive Branch Review Week Teleforum
TeleforumWill We Soon Have Clarity on Navigable Waters?: How the Supreme Court’s October 2017 Term Set the Stage
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Note from the Editor: This article discusses the longstanding legal battle over the meaning of...