Green Lights & Red Flags: FTC Rules of the Road for Business

Hasan Aijaz has been an attorney with the FTC’s Southwest Region since October 2016. Before joining the FTC, Hasan spent four years at the Social Security Administration’s Dallas Regional Office and two years at the Center for Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security at George Mason University. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland and a graduate and law degree from George Mason University. He has a keen interest in data security and privacy issues and has focused on complex investigations during his tenure at the FTC.

Tom Carter is a senior attorney with the FTC’s Southwest Region and, from 1988 to 2000, served as the Regional Director. During his 30-year tenure at the FTC, Tom has concentrated on combating deceptive advertising and marketing practices, including immigration services scams, health fraud, business opportunity scams, credit repair swindles, and Internet and telemarketing fraud. Tom also has filed numerous cases against abusive debt collection companies and serves as the FTC’s coordinator for the Collection Protection Working Group, an ongoing state and federal debt collection enforcement initiative. He also served as coordinator of several other highly-successful law enforcement sweeps and has assisted the U.S. Department of Justice in criminal proceedings. Tom has received multiple service awards at the FTC and in 2016 was recognized with the Commission’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Tom received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California and a J.D. degree from the Southern Methodist University School of Law.

D. Esther Chavez serves as Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, where her work encompasses a broad range of consumer protection concerns with a focus on civil enforcement relating to privacy and data security. Ms. Chavez’s professional activities include service on the Texas State Bar’s Consumer & Commercial Law Council, where she has served as Chair, and on the Planning Committee of the State Bar’s Advanced Consumer & Commercial Law Conference. Ms. Chavez is a frequent speaker at national and state continuing legal education seminars on a variety of privacy and consumer protection topics and most recently has been a presenter at the Practising Law Institute’s 2021 Annual Institute on Privacy and Data Security Law, the Federal Trade Commission’s 2020 Southeast Region Common Ground Conference, and the National Association of Attorneys’ General Consumer Protection Spring and Fall Seminars. Ms. Chavez obtained her undergraduate and legal education at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas School of Law.

Iris Diaz has been the Chief Marketing Officer for the Dallas Mavericks since 2019, when she became the first Latina and youngest person to hold the post. Before joining the Mavericks in 2018, Ms. Diaz held leadership positions at The Richards Group, Clear Channel Outdoor, and Al Día, a Dallas Morning News publication. She has led award-winning marketing campaigns and recently was named a top 500 Dallas influential business leader by D CEO magazine. Ms. Diaz has served as Chair of the St. Jude Research Hospital Night of Hope Committee, and continues to serve as a Committee member. Born in Dallas, Ms. Diaz is first generation Mexican American. She attended the University of North Texas and graduated from Southern Methodist University. Her professional interests include using her experiences to increase Hispanic presence on all marketing fronts and help create new opportunities in sports for Latina women.

Lesley Fair has served more than 30 years with the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection and has received the agency’s Lifetime Achievement Award. After two decades as a litigator with the Division of Advertising Practices, she now specializes in industry outreach with the Division of Consumer & Business Education. She also serves as the agency’s business blogger at business.ftc.gov, cited by ABA Journal as one of the nation’s best law blogs. A Distinguished Lecturer on the faculty of the Catholic University School of Law since 1984, she also teaches Consumer Protection Law at the George Washington University Law School. Lesley is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Texas Law School.

Edward Hynes joined the FTC’s Southwest Region in July 2020 and since that time, has worked on a variety of cases, including matters concerned with deceptive COVID-19 treatment claims, payment processing, and consumer credit. He also is the liaison between the FTC’s Southwest Region and the Better Business Bureau Serving North Central Texas. Prior to government service, he spent nine years in private practice litigating matters primarily related to medical malpractice and healthcare fraud, including bringing and defending state consumer protection law claims related to deceptive healthcare practices. He has tried cases in both state and federal court, and has argued appeals. Eddie received his undergraduate and graduate degrees, both in Philosophy, from Binghamton University, and obtained his law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Serge D. Jorgensen is the President and a founding partner of the Sylint Group of Sarasota, Florida. He provides technical development and guidance in the areas of cyber-security, counter-cyber Warfare, eDiscovery, System Design and Incident Response. Mr. Jorgensen is a patented inventor in engineering- and math-related fields. He directed development of DNS (Domain Name Server) tracking applications; provided response and remediation guidance to multi-billion dollar international espionage and cyber-security attacks; and directed, tasked, and managed multi-million dollar litigation, forensic, and electronic discovery efforts. Prior to the Sylint Group, Mr. Jorgensen ran the Research and Development Department for Locast Corporation, developing a HIPAA compliant patient location and status tracking device.

Hannah Long is Vice President-Director of Dispute Resolution for the Better Business Bureau Serving North Central Texas and joined the Dallas office in March 2019. She began her journey with the BBB system working for BBB Serving Greater Maryland (based in Baltimore, Maryland) processing complaints and performing investigations for a variety of industries. Some of this casework included investigative partnerships with regulatory agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the United States Postal Inspection Service. Over the past 10 years, she has learned and managed various aspects of BBB core mission work, including dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration, and investigations. She has served as a trainer for the BBB system at-large for best practices for both dispute resolution and investigations protocols. Hannah obtained her undergraduate education from Salisbury University with a triple major in Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution, Political Science, and Philosophy. She later earned her M.S. Degree in Negotiation and Conflict Management from the University of Baltimore and is a certified mediator and conflict coach.

The Hon. Barbara M. G. Lynn took the oath of office as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas on February 14, 2000. On May 1, 2016, Judge Lynn became the Chief Judge of the Northern District of Texas, the first female Chief in Texas. Judge Lynn is the Vice-President of the American Inns of Court Foundation. She has served as the Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation and of its Judicial Division. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award for private practice from SMU’s Dedman School of Law in 1999 and was the first recipient of the Louise Raggio award given by the Dallas Women Lawyers Association. She was designated by the National Law Journal in 1998 as one of the fifty most influential women attorneys in the country. In 2004, Judge Lynn was recognized as Judge of the Year by the Dallas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. In 2006, she was recognized by the Women and the Law Section of the State Bar of Texas as the Sarah T. Hughes Woman Lawyer of Achievement. In 2010, she was recognized by the International Women’s Forum with the Women Who Make A Difference Award. In 2011, a new American Inn of Court chapter in Dallas, dedicated to intellectual property, was chartered and designated as The Honorable Barbara M.G. Lynn American Inn of Court. Judge Lynn was the recipient of the 2012 Dallas Bar Foundation Fellows Award and the 2012 Athena Award from the Dallas Regional Chamber. Judge Lynn received the 2018 Morris Harrell Professionalism Award by the Dallas Bar Association and Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism. Judge Lynn was the recipient of the 2019 Texas Bar Foundation Samuel Pessarra Outstanding Jurist Award. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Virginia, Judge Lynn graduated first in her class at SMU’s Dedman School of Law in 1976.

Jason Moon joined the FTC’s Southwest Region in April 2012 and has handled a variety of cases on behalf of the Commission, including matters related to credit reporting, telemarketing, pyramid schemes, cryptocurrency, and charitable fundraising. Before coming to the FTC, Jason was a partner with a Fort Worth litigation firm, Brown, Dean, Wiseman, Proctor, Hart, & Howell, where he handled a large docket of litigated cases, primarily involving personal injury defense. Before entering private practice, he worked at the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office for several years. As an assistant district attorney, he tried over 70 criminal jury trials, on matters ranging from DWI to capital murder. Jason has received multiple FTC awards, including the Paul Rand Dixon Award and the Janet D. Steiger Award. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Rice University and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.

The Hon. Maricela Moore is the presiding judge of the 162nd Judicial District Court of Dallas County, and the Local Administrative District Judge. She previously served as the Presiding Judge of the Central Jury Room. In 2019, Judge Moore was named by the American Board of Trial Advocates as the Dallas Judge of the Year. She is a Fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation and Dallas Association of Young Lawyers Foundation and on the Advisory Board of the Dallas County Dispute Resolution Board and the University of North Texas Law School. Judge Moore is also a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas and a Master in the Mac Taylor Inn of Court. She previously served as the President of the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, Dallas Hispanic Law Foundation, and MABA-Texas, as well as a Board Member of the Dallas Bar Association. Judge Moore received her Bachelors of Science from Boston College, magna cum laude, and her law degree from the George Washington University National Law Center in Washington, D.C.

Kathryne (“Kate”) M. Morris is a Member & Co-Founder of Hosch & Morris, PLLC, a boutique law firm dedicated to data privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, the Internet and technology. In her practice, Kate advises companies and other organizations on U.S. and EU data privacy matters, data commercialization, outsourcing, and the development and deployment of new websites, platforms and technologies, including “bots,” analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain and “smart city” technologies. Kate is recognized as a Privacy Law Specialist (PLS) as accredited by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and otherwise, she is triple certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Her professional activities have included board service for the Dallas Bar Association, Dallas Women Lawyers Association and Dallas Association of Young Lawyers (“DAYL”) Foundation. In 2018, Kate received the DAYL’s Outstanding Mentor Award, which commended her as follows: “Not only does she serve as a mentor to many young lawyers in Dallas, Kate is a role model for all attorneys, exhibiting an unbridled passion of the law, for integrity and professionalism, and a genuine joy in the success of others.”

Frederick C. Moss taught professional ethics, criminal law, evidence and trial advocacy for more than 30 years at the Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law before retiring as Professor Emeritus of Law in 2010. Before joining the faculty in 1978, he was an assistant U.S. attorney. Outside the SMU law school, he served as chair of the Dallas Bar Association’s Ethics Committee and as an examiner for the Texas Board of Legal Specialization for 15 years. In addition, he served the National Institute for Trial Advocacy as director of its Southern Regional Basic Trial Skills Program and as director of the Institute’s Southern Deposition Program. Professor Moss received his A.B. degree from Georgetown University, his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law, and his LL.M. from Harvard Law School.

Sidharth Muralidharan is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator in the Temerlin Advertising Institute at Southern Methodist University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on strategic brand management, advertising ethics, and social responsibility. His primary research interests are in cross-cultural studies and advertising’s impact on mitigating social and environmental issues in India and abroad. His secondary research interests include social media and online advertising. His work has been published in Journal of Advertising; Journal of Advertising Research; International Journal of Advertising; International Journal of Consumer Studies; Asian Journal of Communication; Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking; and Public Relations Review, among others. Sidharth received his Ph.D. in communication from The University of Southern Mississippi.

Harris Senturia is an attorney with the FTC’s East Central Region office in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been with the FTC since 2006, focusing on consumer protection law enforcement. Over his years at the FTC, Harris has addressed business, consumer, and law enforcement audiences about identifying and responding to various types of scams. Before joining the FTC, he was a partner in the commercial litigation group of a large law firm. He earned his undergraduate degree from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and his law degree from Columbia University in New York.

FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter was sworn in as a Federal Trade Commissioner on May 2, 2018 and named Acting Chairwoman by President Biden on January 21, 2021. Prior to joining the Commission, she served as Chief Counsel to Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic Leader. A native New Yorker, she advised Leader Schumer on legal, competition, telecom, privacy, consumer protection, and intellectual property matters, among other issues. Prior to joining Senator Schumer's office, Ms. Slaughter was an associate in the D.C. office of Sidley Austin LLP. Ms. Slaughter received her B.A. from Yale University and her J.D. from Yale Law School.

Lea Williams currently serves as in-house M&A counsel for Centrica plc, a British multinational energy and services company. Ms. Williams offers a diverse skill set: (i) structuring, negotiating, and drafting complex commercial contracts; (ii) managing formal and informal disputes; (iii) providing regulatory guidance for operations, trade, investigations, litigation, and mergers and acquisitions; and (iv) partnering with business teams to support the design, implementation, and administration of compliance programs. Her legal experience spans across sectors (energy, healthcare, technology, finance, public law, and commercial goods). She has served in leadership roles including General Counsel, Compliance Officer, and Litigation Team Lead. Ms. Williams also teaches Consumer Law and Privacy Law at Texas Southern University-Thurgood Marshall School of Law. She is honored to serve as a professor and mentor to students at this Historically Black University. Ms. Williams earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law.