For anyone planning to attending the ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting in Washington DC this week (March 29-31), please look for your friends from Kelley Drye Ad Law on multiple panels on Wednesday and Thursday:

ABBY STEMPSON (Special Counsel in the Ad Law and State AG practices) will be speaking on a panel entitled Fundamentals – Consumer Protection. The session will include a fact pattern to help set the scene for the audience and will discuss potential violations of federal and state law, as well as BBB self-regulatory standards. Panelists will examine enforcement, corporate compliance, and emerging issues, with Abby focusing in particular on state consumer protection laws, AG enforcement, and business compliance strategies. This session takes place on Wednesday from 9:00-10:15.

DONNELLY MCDOWELL (Partner in the Ad Law Practice) is moderating the panel Navigating the Green” Minefield of ESG Claims, which will offer perspectives from the FTC, in-house counsel, and plaintiff’s counsel on issues related to green marketing and environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives. As we’ve discussed at length on Ad Law Access in a series of posts, green marketing claims continue to generate attention and scrutiny from the FTC, NAD, and plaintiff’s attorneys and are more prevalent than ever. In addition, the FTC has solicited comment on potential revisions to the Green Guides, as we discussed here. This session will address all of these developments and more, and takes place on Wednesday from 1:45-3:15 pm.

LAURA RIPOSO VANDRUFF (Partner and Chair of the Ad Law Practice) is the Session Chair and Moderator of the panel Is AMG the Tip of the Iceberg? Two years after the Supreme Court stripped the FTC of its authority to use Section 13(b) to obtain monetary remedies in FTC v. AMG, the FTC is facing new challenges on other fronts. Laura’s panel includes a former Chairman of the FTC; an attorney representing the Petitioner in Axon v. FTC; the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection’s Chief Litigation Counsel; and a prominent member of the FTC defense bar. Among other things, the panel will assess whether Chair Khan’s ambitious rulemaking priorities are vulnerable to constitutional challenges, including under the major questions doctrine. This panel is on Thursday from 8:30-10:00 am.

PAUL SINGER (Ad Law Partner and co-chair of the State AG practice) is the Session Chair and Moderator of this year’s Consumer Protection Year in Review panel. This panel will feature representatives from the FTC, DOJ, NAD Division of BBB National Programs, Florida AG’s Office, and the private bar. This annual panel takes a look back at the major consumer protection developments of the past year, and will include a robust discussion of many of the hot topics that emerged through enforcement efforts, including dark patterns, privacy and data security, testimonials, endorsements and reviews, green claims, and health claims. The panel will also discuss the increased collaboration among enforcers – both between federal agencies (FTC/DOJ) and state-federal partnerships (FTC/State AGs). This panel will take place on Thursday from 1:30-3:00 pm.

Please join us at any or all of these interesting and timely panels.