Former Federal Trade Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour is a partner in Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.’s antitrust and competition practice. Pamela heads the firm's Privacy, Competition and Data Protection practice group. She is well recognized for her knowledge of evolving areas of competition and consumer protection law, including privacy and data security issues.

Pamela served on the Federal Trade Commission from 2003 until April 2010. She works from both the Washington, D.C. and New York offices of Fulbright. Prior to serving on the Commission, Pamela was an antitrust partner at a New York firm. She previously spent a decade working in the New York Attorney General’s Office, including as Deputy Attorney General, where she investigated and prosecuted a variety of antitrust and consumer protection violations.

Pamela's career experience has included frequent speaking engagements, Congressional testimony and publications relating to a wide range of industries and subject areas. She has a breadth and depth of knowledge in the energy, health care and privacy fields, as well as her understanding of global antitrust and consumer protection law.

During her nearly seven years as a Commissioner, Pamela was instrumental in shaping an ambitious Federal Trade Commission agenda that encompassed a wide variety of competition and consumer protection issues affecting virtually every economic sector. She was frequently a leading or sole dissenter in situations where she advocated to vigorously uphold the letter and spirit of the nation's antitrust and consumer protection laws.

Before joining the FTC, Pamela successfully prosecuted numerous national price-fixing conspiracies as a top litigator in the New York Attorney General's office, including serving as lead counsel in several multi-state cases and arguing a resale price maintenance (RPM) case, State Oil v. Khan, on behalf of 35 states before the U.S. Supreme Court. During that time, Pamela was chief of the Office's 150-attorney Public Advocacy Division.

Seeking a way to convey the voice of consumers to the Court in 2007, Pamela authored and submitted an innovative "Open Letter to the Supreme Court" in the Leegin case where the Court considered the longstanding antitrust prohibition on RPM. Pamela testified numerous times in Congress and oversaw a series of public FTC workshops to empirically examine the effects of RPM on consumer prices.

Pamela is recognized internationally for her leadership in the emerging field of privacy and data security. She was the 2010 recipient of the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC’s) “Champion of Freedom Award” for her defense of consumer privacy as an FTC Commissioner. As a key member of the U.S. delegation to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summits, she was directly involved in representing U.S. interests during negotiation and future implementation of a global privacy framework related to cross-border data transfers. Beyond her contributions in the realm of information practices, Pamela also has played an important role in shaping the legal discourse on technological standard setting, innovation markets, vertical distribution restraints, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology and health care.

Show full bio

Hide full bio