FTC Acting Chair Ohlhausen Makes Appointments

On February 16, 2017, Maureen K. Ohlhausen, Acting Chairman of FTC, announced that she appointed Abbott (Tad) Lipsky, a partner at the law firm of Latham & Watkins LLP, to be the Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, effective March 6, 2017.

Lipsky brings with him over 40 years of experience in antitrust law.  He started his legal career as an attorney in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), where he focused on deregulation and enhancing competition and antitrust enforcement in certain regulated sectors of the economy, including the aviation, transportation and energy industries.  Following a break from government service, he returned to the DOJ in 1981 upon his appointment as Deputy Assistant Attorney General to President Reagan’s first Assistant Attorney General, William F. Baxter.  At Latham & Watkins, Lipsky’s practice focused on a range of antitrust matters in many countries around the world.  He is co-chair of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) International Task Force, and most recently served on the Antitrust Section’s Presidential Transition Task Force.  Lipsky previously served as the chief global antitrust counsel to the Coca-Cola Company from 1992-2002.  He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics cum laude from Amherst College, an M.A. in Economics from Stanford University, and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

As part of these staff changes, Acting Chairman Ohlhausen appointed Alan Devlin as Acting Deputy Director of the Competition Bureau.  Devlin previously served as an Attorney Advisor to Acting Chairman Ohlhausen.  Devlin, who joined the FTC in 2015 from the law firm of Latham & Watkins, teaches antitrust as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center.  And Chairman Ohlhausen also appointed Svetlana S. Gans, a former Attorney Advisor and litigation attorney within both the Bureaus of Consumer Protection and Competition, as her Chief of Staff.  Gans joined the FTC in 2010 from private practice, where she focused on antitrust and consumer protection matters, with previous experience at the DOJ’s Antitrust Division.

These appointments and especially the appointment of Lipsky suggests that Ohlhausen may have this job for a while because it is unlikely that Lipsky would leave for a short time gig.