Insights

Washington – August 15, 2024: The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 42 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 29 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

Washington – June 24, 2024: Crowell & Moring has been recommended in eight practice areas in the 17th edition of the Legal 500 United States. In addition, partner Daniel Forman, co-chair of the firm’s Government Contracts Group, has been named to the Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame” for Government Contracts.

Washington – June 6, 2024: Crowell & Moring earned 78 rankings for 67 lawyers, as well as 41 national and statewide practice area rankings, in the Chambers USA 2024 guide. The rankings are driven by independent interviews of clients and lawyers at peer firms.

As we’ve previously reported, FTC practitioners and businesses alike have been anxiously awaiting details about the rule that will prohibit purportedly deceptive practices in connection with reviews and testimonials. Our readers likely recall the FTC’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking from November 2022, the notice of proposed rulemaking from June 2023, and the informal hearing on the proposed rule which occurred in February 2024. The wait is finally over: just yesterday, August 14, 2024, the agency announced the “Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials” (the “Rule”). The final Rule, which the Commissioners unanimously approved, is a formal step to address alleged ongoing non-compliance with Section 5 of the FTC Act and the agency’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (the “Endorsement Guides”), particularly in the consumer review space.

Call it the summer of junk fees and drip pricing. In July, California’s new drip pricing law went into effect and in August the federal government announced further proposed rules into junk fees and subscription services. Regulators say these proposed price transparency laws and regulations are consumer protection tools that will save consumers money, help them avoid hidden fees and enable them to cancel recurring charges and subscriptions.

Last week, based on a referral from the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a complaint against Williams-Sonoma alleging that the company violated a previous Federal Trade Commission decision and order dated July 13, 2020 (the “2020 Order”) pursuant to which Williams-Sonoma was prohibited from making unsubstantiated U.S. origin claims. The complaint alleged that, following entry of the 2020 Order, Williams-Sonoma made “numerous false and unsubstantiated representations that their home goods or other products are ‘Made in USA’ or otherwise of U.S. origin, when, in fact, they are wholly imported or contain significant imported components.”

FASTER TECH/TOUGHER REGS: NAVIGATING THE NEW COMPLIANCE LANDSCAPE: The 2021 ANA/BAA Marketing Law Conference will provide learnings and practical advice from deep dives on the broadest variety of today's marketing, advertising, and privacy legal concerns, including the onslaught of state and international privacy restrictions, social media, influencer, real-time, retail store, and entertainment and experiential marketing.

This two-day conference will bring together prominent practitioners and thought leaders from the food and dietary supplements industry to address the most pressing issues in advertising, labeling, and litigation.

In 2018, for the first time since it was founded in 1914, the Federal Trade Commission seated five brand new Commissioners. While the settlements that have been publicly announced since the new Commissioners took their posts have not indicated a shift in enforcement priorities, the direction and focus of the “new” FTC has yet to reveal itself.

Please join Chris Cole, Jim Flood, and Holly Melton, for the webinar, “Activist Groups, Congress, and Government Investigations: 3 Threats for Consumer Protection Lawsuits.” The event will be on Oct. 12 at 11am ET.

The balance of power at the FTC, FCC and CFPB is shifting with the new administration. This may bring different consumer protection enforcement priorities. In this seminar, we will offer predictions about what to expect in the next two years as these changes take place. Panelists will discuss: