Kovacic to Leave FTC General Counsel Post

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras announced today that William E. Kovacic, FTC General Counsel, will leave the Commission December 31 to return to academic life as the E. K. Gubin Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School. Majoras has designated John D. Graubert, currently Principal Deputy General Counsel, to serve as Acting General Counsel.

“Bill has made countless contributions to the Commission, particularly in the development of competition law and policy in the U.S. and around the world,” said Majoras. “An invaluable member of my senior staff, his wise counsel has helped to move the agency’s competition and consumer protection agendas forward.”

Kovacic was named General Counsel in June 2001. Under his leadership, the FTC’s Office of General Counsel amassed an impressive winning record in appellate litigation. Most prominently, Kovacic and his staff led a multi-agency effort to defend the constitutionality of the Do Not Call Registry, leading to a victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver, after which the United States Supreme Court denied further review. During his tenure, the FTC prevailed in more than 20 other appellate matters, including two important cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., involving the protection of consumer privacy for credit reports and other personal financial information.

Kovacic expanded the FTC’s program of filing amicus briefs, not only in federal appeals courts, but also in the U.S. Supreme Court, trial courts, and state appellate courts. In cooperation with other FTC divisions and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the FTC filed a record number of such briefs to provide the courts with guidance on a range of issues including monopolization, intellectual property, class action fairness, state constraints on competition in law and other professions, and consumer privacy.

In the international arena, Kovacic led FTC delegations to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Competition Committee and participated in bilateral consultations with foreign agencies. For the International Competition Network, he chaired the Fundraising Working Group and a subgroup of the Competition Policy Implementation Working Group.

In addition, Kovacic oversaw the expansion of the Commission’s international technical assistance programs in the competition and consumer protection fields. Funded mainly by the U.S. Agency for International Development, that effort has resulted in missions to more than 40 countries that are implementing new competition and consumer protection laws.

“Bill focused the attention of U.S. and foreign officials on the need to improve the institutional capability of competition agencies over the long term,” said Majoras. “He also underscored how law enforcement is enhanced through effective use of advocacy, education, and policy research and development to address difficult competition and consumer protection issues.”

Under Kovacic’s leadership, the Office of the General Counsel developed several major policy reports. In 2002, the FTC issued “Generic Drug Entry Prior to Patent Expiration,” a groundbreaking study on generic drugs and patent expiration. The report recommended reforms that Congress recently enacted in the Medicare Modernization Act. In 2003, the FTC concluded comprehensive hearings and research with a report, “To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy,” that made a substantial contribution to the debate on patent reform. Since that report, legislation has been introduced to adopt some of the FTC’s recommendations, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) issued a report echoing several of the Commission's recommendations, and the FTC is working with the NAS and the patent bar to sponsor a series of town meetings on patent reform this spring. In 2004, the FTC and DOJ, issued a report on health care, “Improving Health Care: A Dose of Competition.” This report has been heralded as the definitive source on how competition can work to improve the health care system.

Kovacic was instrumental in planning a number of activities to study the history of the FTC. Most noteworthy was the design of a two-day research symposium in September 2004 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Agency.

Graubert joined the FTC in 1998 as Deputy General Counsel. He was named Principal Deputy General Counsel in 2001. Prior to his work at the FTC, Graubert was a partner with the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson where he handled antitrust and commercial litigation, as well as environmental and labor relations issues. He clerked for the Honorable Joe McDonald Ingraham in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals. Graubert is a member of the American and D.C. bar associations. He received his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and his bachelor’s degree from Williams College.