Intellectual property litigator Edith Ramirez was sworn in on Monday to her new post as a member of the Federal Trade Commission. The swearing-in ceremony for the other new commissioner, consumer watchdog Julie Brill, is scheduled for tomorrow.
Ramirez, who comes to the FTC from the California law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, went to law school with President Barack Obama and worked on his campaign. Brill spent most of her career handling consumer protection and antitrust matters with the Vermont Attorney General’s office before moving to a similar post in North Carolina.
The Senate unanimously confirmed both nominations last month.
“I’m delighted to welcome Commissioner Ramirez to the FTC,” the agency’s chairman, Jon Leibowitz, said in a statement. “Edith is a talented litigator with a strong commitment to public service and I’m sure her contributions to upholding our mission of antitrust enforcement and consumer protection will be tremendous.”
Ramirez has represented Mattel, ABC, The Walt Disney Company, Seiko Epson Corporation and Northrop Grumman, according to her firm’s Web site.
Before joining Quinn Emanuel, Ramirez worked at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP and clerked for 9th Circuit Judge Alfred Goodwin.
The two Democrats replace Republican Deborah Majoras, who left the FTC in March 2008 to be general counsel at Procter & Gamble, and independent Pamela Jones Harbour, whose term expired last September.
