Deb Matties

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

Before joining Practus, Deb was in private practice at another firm. During the pandemic, she served as General Counsel for Washington D.C.’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, the 600-person agency providing communications, applications, cybersecurity, and technology support to D.C.’s government agencies and workers. In this role, Deb negotiated communications and procurement contracts and crafted data-sharing and nondisclosure agreements. She also worked directly with the General Counsel for the Mayor of the District of Columbia on vaccine mandates, vaccine incentives, and other top priorities of Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Previously, Deb held leadership roles in several political and nonprofit organizations focused on transforming political advocacy and promoting civic engagement through innovative technology. These included the New Data Project, which developed VoteWithMe, a mobile app that made novel use of voter data to improve voter turnout in the 2018 General Election.

From 2013-2016, Deb served as Vice President for Privacy at CTIA, a trade association representing the wireless telecommunications industry. There, she stood up a new program giving member companies a robust voice in policy, legal, and technical debates over consumer privacy. During her time at CTIA, Deb testified before Congress, educated lawmakers and executive branch officials in private meetings, prepared filings to government agencies, represented the mobile wireless industry in press interviews, and spoke at policy symposia and conferences. She educated and cultivated relationships with Fortune 100 C-Suite leaders and helped to shape corporate advocacy related to core business units and new technologies. Deb also served as an appointee to the Federal Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, providing advice to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on policy, operational, administrative, and technological issues related to personally identifiable information.

Earlier in her career, Deb spent ten years at the Federal Trade Commission, first as a litigator responsible for fraud and unfairness cases, and then as a senior legal and policy advisor to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. During this period, her work focused on law enforcement cases involving environmental and health advertising claims for consumer products, endorsements, and liability of technology platforms.  She also played critical roles on matters setting new standards in data privacy and security, including pathbreaking cases involving Google and Facebook.

Deb began her career as an associate with Covington & Burling, where she advised food, dietary supplement, and medical device companies on compliance issues related to their advertising claims and marketing programs. She also advised early “dot-com” technology clients on international, federal, and state privacy laws and practices. Deb has an undergraduate degree in biology, with a concentration in molecular genetics.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Counseled drug, dietary supplement, medical device, and functional food manufacturers to be compliant with FTC and FDA regulations for their labeling, advertising, and use of endorsements
• Counseled consumer product companies on data privacy and advertising and marketing compliance
• Negotiated supplier and manufacturer agreements for food and dietary supplement companies
• Crafted consumer terms and privacy policies and negotiated partnership and client agreements for SaaS and technology platform companies
• Negotiated a significant contract between a local governmental agency and major Internet Service Provider to ensure availability of broadband Internet access for low-income students during the Covid-19 pandemic
• Successfully litigated FTC v. Neovi, an unfair business practices law enforcement matter, using a novel legal theory; grant of summary judgment was upheld on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Successfully litigated other consumer protection law enforcement actions at the Federal Trade Commission against business opportunity companies and technology companies, resulting in injunctive relief and monetary restitution
• Testified before a U.S. House of Representatives committee on consumer privacy data breach laws
• Filed comments with regulatory agencies on telecommunications and privacy issues