Consumer protection and privacy issues are of growing importance in the competitive process. Hunton & Williams LLP offers state-of-the-art counseling and representation in this area, with particular emphasis on deceptive advertising and trade practices, the Lanham Act, state consumer protection laws, and privacy. Mel Orlans brings the familiarity of several past leadership positions in the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, including the position of Deputy Assistant Director of the Division of Food and Drug Advertising. Orlans also litigated a number of significant Commission cases in this area. Bruce Hoffman and Thomas M. Hughes also provide consumer protection counseling, and have litigated numerous state consumer protection cases, many in the form of class actions. In the area of privacy and data protection, Lisa J. Sotto in New York and Christopher Kuner in Brussels keep clients current with the demands of state and federal legal requirements in the United States, as well as Europe's unique and stringent data protection laws. A ComputerWorld magazine survey recently ranked the firm's privacy and data protection practice as "head and shoulders above the rest." The firm’s Centre for Information Policy Leadership, a privacy and information security think tank associated with the law firm, brings together industry and government privacy leaders to help develop and promote sound privacy policies and legislation.
