As lawyers in service to the public, we know well that laws and governmental enforcement of laws are necessary for maintaining an ordered society that ensures safety and fair treatment while respecting the individual freedoms and the benefits of capitalism in a democracy. This special issue focuses on price gouging, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the good work of government lawyers.
August 10, 2022 Column
Message to the Members
By Edward Monahan, Editor in Chief
Patricia A. Conners, our guest editor
Patricia A. Conners is the guest editor of this issue of The Public Lawyer. She is with Stearns Weaver Miller, P.A., in Tallahassee, Florida, where she chairs the firm’s state attorneys general practice, focusing on state and federal antitrust and consumer protection enforcement and complex litigation matters as well as corporate compliance counseling. She was formerly the chief deputy of the Florida Attorney General’s Office, culminating a 36-year career in public service. She has written and marshaled informative articles on price gouging enforcement. We appreciate her generous writing and editing for this issue.
What are state law enforcers doing to prevent predatory pricing?
When consumers are being unfairly taken advantage of, immediate relief and deterrence are the goals of enforcement. Patricia A. Conners lays out the trends and developments of enforcement by state attorneys general.
Federal government efforts to address excessive pricing and hoarding
How effective was a 70-year-old statute in protecting the public from those who would use the current pandemic as a tool to profit off those in need? Craig Carpenito, Daniel (Yong Woo) Kim, and Noah Childrey tell us of the work at the federal level.
What did cities do to stop unfair pricing?
What did the city that was the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak do when a record number of price gouging complaints poured into its consumer protection department? Tamala Boyd educates us on how New York City dealt with the businesses that attempted to take advantage of consumers.
Efforts by companies to prevent price gouging and counterfeiting
Businesses have made significant efforts to combat price gouging. Learn about what Shopify and 3M did to address excessive pricing and counterfeiting in the article by Courtney Enloe, Matt McGuire, Bill Childs, Rachelle Bastarache, Eva Mendelsohn, and Cheryl Hamilton.
Our love of learning
At our core, we are learners. We seek greater awareness. “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows,” observed Sydney J. Harris. The Public Lawyer exists to help our members learn. Nelson Mandela captured the importance of learning when he said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Under Trish’s guidance, the articles in this issue help us learn by shedding light on the importance of governmental lawyers enforcing commonsense laws and regulations in our communities . . . all in service of the common good.
Your voice is important
Please communicate your thoughts about these articles to us, and send your ideas for future articles to [email protected].