ABA Antitrust Law Section sponsors two-day consumer-oriented meeting in San Diego

The conference comes at a critical time for consumer protection and will examine the different paths available to the nation with respect to policy and enforcement, as well as challenges and opportunities presented by new privacy laws across the globe. The two-day meeting will bring together a broad range of practitioners from the private sector and federal and state governments.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta will deliver a keynote address from 9:30-10 a.m. in the opening session of the conference on Feb. 8. Other prominent state and federal officials include U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of Oakland, California, who will participate in a fireside chat from 1:30-2 p.m. Wednesday; Peter Winn, chief privacy and civil liberties officer at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., who will also speak in a fireside chat from 10-10:30 a.m. Thursday; and Charles Harwood, regional director of the Federal Trade Commission in Seattle, Washington, who will give a keynote address from 10:30-11 a.m. Thursday.

At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the program “State Legislative Review: Analysis and Forecast” will look at what is happening nationally at the state level in consumer protection and data privacy. Experts from California, Oregon and Massachusetts will participate.

At 8-9 a.m. Thursday, a “Hot Topics Roundtable” will feature Joe Kanada, assistant attorney general for Washington state; Winston Chan of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in San Francisco; Kathleen Foote of the American Antitrust Institute in Washington, D.C.; and Andrew Serwin, a partner and U.S. chair and global co-chair of Data Protection, Privacy and Security Practice, DLA Piper in San Diego.

Other panels include:

• “Health Privacy in the post-Dobbs Era” — The program will explore the impacts of the U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs decision in June 2022, which continues to significantly affect patients’ lives. Experts will offer insights from the legal, consumer, patient and provider perspectives.
  11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Wednesday       
• “Artificial Intelligence: Update on Key Policy Trends” — AI, or artificial intelligence, is quickly becoming part of the most important ecosystems consumers use and live in, from predictive health analytics to individualized financial algorithms applied to banking customers. The panel of leading AI experts will deliver a thorough update on the most important consumer AI developments and explore the trends the public needs to be most aware of.
  2-3:15 p.m. Wednesday
  
• “Dark Patterns: New Work, Emerging Solutions” — Dark commercial patterns are an area of increasing concern in the consumer protection world, with practices that manipulate, steer, coerce or deceive consumers to point, click and navigate their choices, which are mostly not in their best interests and can present a major issue. Experts in the trenches share current thinking and legislative activity in this area.
  3:30-4:45 p.m. Wednesday
  
• “The Post-Pandemic Consumer Financial Protection Landscape” — During the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers experienced profound financial stresses. But is the worst behind us? A panel of leading consumer financial experts discuss the post-pandemic realities consumers are navigating, from systemic high inflation to products and services that are still creating consumer challenges.
  11 a.m.-noon Thursday

The full agenda, including speakers, is here. For media credentials and registration, please email [email protected] by noon PST on Tuesday, Feb. 7. ABA COVID-19 protocols will be in effect and details will be emailed to registrants.

The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.