Maryanne S. Kane is Of Counsel in O’Melveny’s Washington, DC office and a member of the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group. She specializes in consumer protection and competition issues. Prior to joining O’Melveny, Maryanne served as Chief of Staff for two Chairmen of the Federal Trade Commission from 2003 to 2006, first for former Chairman Timothy J. Muris and then for former Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. In this role, Maryanne was a key advisor to the Chairman and the Commission on congressional, budget, policy, management, and enforcement issues arising in both the competition and consumer protection arenas. She provided counsel on strategic planning initiatives, and helped direct the agency’s senior staff in implementing the Commission’s antitrust and consumer protection mandates.

Before serving as Chief of Staff, Maryanne was an Assistant General Counsel at the FTC, focusing primarily on legislative matters with competition and consumer protection ramifications. Prior to joining the General Counsel’s Office, Maryanne held several staff positions in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in which she handled advertising and marketing investigations and cases.

Maryanne advises clients on a range of consumer protection issues, particularly on advertising and marketing representations, advertising substantiation (including for health-related claims), privacy, rulemaking, and credit-related matters. She has represented clients in a number of industries, including energy, telecommunications, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and consumer products. She also was active in the FTC’s recent market manipulation rulemaking, advising a multinational integrated petroleum company through the process and contributing to industry comments filed with the agency. Maryanne also provides strategic counseling in investigations and other proceedings before the Federal Trade Commission and other federal entities, including the Congress, as well as state and international entities.