Lao '80 Appointed Federal Trade Commission Policy Planning Director

Marina Lao '80 was recently appointed director of the Federal Trade Commission's Office of Policy Planning.

Lao will work to help develop and apply consumer protection and policy enforcements. She will advise staff and clients on cases that raise concerns that go against protocol. Her primary roles in this position include advocacy through workshops on antitrust law, supporting competition and regulating consumer protection according to state legislature.

Lao previously taught at Seton Hall University School of Law in 1994, focusing on antitrust enforcement. Also participating as a member of the Advisory Board of the American Anti-Trust Institute, and Chair of the Section of Antitrust and Economic Regulation of the Association of American Law Schools, Lao writes, speaks and teaches about Anti-trust law.

In 2007, Lao received a Fulbright Fellowship to the University of Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law. Under the Fulbright Program, Lao was selected for a scholarship to teach U.S Antitrust Law. She was also named the Andrea Catania Fellow for Excellence in Teaching for 2003-2005.

Graduating with a bachelor's degree from Stony Brook University, a law degree from Albany Law School and her Masters of Law degree from Temple University School of Law, she started her career at the U.S. Department of Justice, in the Antitrust Division as a trial attorney on a three-year full scholarship after graduating from Albany Law.

The Federal Trade Commission works to protect consumers from deceptive and unfair businesses, maintain civil competition, and advance performance by informing consumers on the legalities of businesses practices. The FTC was formed in 1914 as a method to "bust the trusts," and create consumer protection laws against businesses with unfair intentions.

By Megan Lounsbury