On Thursday, the White House announced it intends to designate
Edith Ramirez as the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC). Ramirez, a current FTC commissioner, was a fellow
Harvard Law School classmate of President Obama, and served as the
Obama campaign's Latino outreach director in California.
She was an associate at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP and a Los
Angeles-based partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP
before being appointed a FTC commissioner in April 2010. At
Quinn Emanuel, Ramirez specialized in complex business litigation,
including intellectual property, unfair competition and trademark
disputes.
Ramirez will replace Jon Leibowitz as the head of the
agency. Leibowitz's departure leaves two Democrats and
two Republicans on the commission, which at full strength has five
members. In the case of a 2-2 vote, no action is taken.
There has been little word so far on a nominee for the remaining
commissioner's spot. Early reports indicate
