Washington, D.C. & New York, NY, January 8, 2014—BakerHostetler is proud to announce that former Federal Trade Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour has joined BakerHostetler’s Washington D.C. and New York offices. She joins the firm as a partner in the Antitrust and Competition Practice and as a national co-leader of the Privacy and Data Protection team. Harbour is well recognized for her knowledge in the evolving areas of competition and consumer protection law, specifically as they relate to privacy and data security issues. She joins BakerHostetler from Norton Rose Fulbright.
Harbour’s privacy work includes high-level privacy and data protection counsel for national and international clients. She assists clients with data breach notifications, assessments, and audits, and provides strategic advice on data transfers, particularly as it concerns international data transfers and the European Data Privacy Directive. She has advised foreign governments in Asia, India, Europe, Israel, Australia and New Zealand on privacy and competitive implications of online markets and has testified before Congress as an expert witness regarding antitrust and privacy issues. Harbour has represented Microsoft Corp. domestically and abroad on the legal and policy implications of competition and privacy in online markets.
During her nearly seven years as an FTC commissioner, Harbour was known as an outspoken advocate for upholding the letter and spirit of the nation’s antitrust and consumer protection laws. As Commissioner, she formulated the FTC's substantive agenda which comprised a wide variety of competition and consumer protection matters affecting virtually every economic sector within the U.S. She also served as member of U.S. Delegation to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and negotiated U.S. interests for implementing a global privacy framework relating to cross-border data transfers. Upon leaving the commission, she received the FTC Award for Distinguished Service in recognition of her exemplary service, as well as the 2010 “Champion of Freedom Award” from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a leading public interest research group focused on privacy protection.
Prior to joining the FTC, Harbour spent a decade working in the New York State Attorney General’s office, where she served as Deputy Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General and was well known for her successful prosecution of national price-fixing conspiracies. As Deputy AAG, Harbour argued State Oil v. Khan, a maximum price fixing case in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 37 amici states and managed over 350 attorneys in the civil division covering antitrust, civil rights, charities, consumer protection, environmental protection, investor protection, and real estate finance.
“The firm’s privacy team is one of the best in the nation and we are excited to add Pamela’s breadth of client work and regulatory experience to the team,” said George A. Stamboulidis, managing partner of BakerHostetler’s NY office. Jeffrey H. Paravano, managing partner of BakerHostetler’s D.C. office, added that “Our clients are growing increasingly attentive toward legal issues at the intersection of privacy, data security and competition - Pamela’s leadership in these fast-changing areas and her insight into the workings of the FTC will help provide strategic direction for our clients.”
“I am delighted to work with the professionals at BakerHostetler,” said Harbour. “This is an exciting time to join the firm’s antitrust and privacy teams, both of which have deep benches, unparalleled experience and excellent practitioners.”
BakerHostetler's Privacy and Data Protection team - a part of the firm’s intellectual property practice - gains momentum from a recent recognition by Law360 as one of the top five privacy groups in the US, as well as the firm’s recent combination announcement with leading intellectual property law firm Woodcock Washburn. With the addition of Woodcock Washburn’s 68 lawyers, BakerHostetler doubled its current IP practice to nearly 140 lawyers. The combination enhances the firm’s ability to help clients maximize the value of their intellectual property and to continue to provide valuable assistance to leading technology companies and patent-rich universities and research institutions.
Harbour earned her J.D. from Indiana University Bloomington in 1984, and her B.M., with distinction, in Music Performance from the same in 1981. Her bar memberships include the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, and the United States Supreme Court Bar. She has been a member of preeminent industry organizations such as the Loyola University Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies, Cloud Security Alliance, EPIC, the Center for Democracy & Technology, the Future of Privacy Forum and WiredSafety. She is a prolific speaker and writer on privacy and consumer protection issues and has been called to provide testimony to Congress and international regulatory authorities nearly a dozen times in the past decade.
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About BakerHostetler
One of the nation’s largest law firms, BakerHostetler helps clients around the world to address their most complex and critical business and regulatory issues. With five core national practice groups – business, employment, intellectual property, litigation, and tax – the firm has nearly 900 lawyers located in 14 offices coast to coast. BakerHostetler is recognized for its role as court-appointed counsel to the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) Trustee in the recovery of billions of dollars in principal lost in the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Bernard L. Madoff. Additionally, BakerHostetler is widely regarded as having one of the country’s top 10 tax practices, a nationally recognized litigation practice, data privacy practice, and an industry-leading middle market business practice. For more information, visit www.bakerlaw.com.