She has a
very, very high
standard of
excellence,” says
Lydia Parnes,
partner at Wilson
Sonsini Goodrich
& Rosati, of
Majoras, “and she
applies that to
herself first and
foremost, and
then to everyone
around her.”
that might look good for consumers, like
regulation of prices in the oil industry, can
have unintended consequences that aren’t
good for consumers at all. It can make
prices go higher or cause shortages, which
we found in the 1970s.”
Within the consumer protection side
of her FTC role, Majoras decided to
focus largely on privacy issues regarding
computer users’ data. Under her direction,
the FTC set a standard by going after
companies that violated public trust
because of their shoddy security practices.
“We brought the first cases involving
data breaches where the legal finding was
that the failure to have a reasonable and
comprehensive data security program in
place was an unfair practice,” says Lydia
Parnes, who was deputy director of the
FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection
before Majoras promoted her to director.
Parnes praises Majoras for her ability to
master the understanding of complex
matters in a short amount of time. “She
came to the FTC very, very well-respected,
but she didn’t really have any background
in consumer protection,” Parnes says. “She
just jumped into it. She not only became
completely well-versed and an expert in
both the law and policy [of privacy], she
became a real leader.”
Majoras oversaw the creation of the FTC’s
Division of Privacy and Identity Protection
and was named co-chair of the Identity
Theft Task Force established by President
George W. Bush in 2006. Her leadership
was recognized by the International
Association of Privacy Professionals, which
honored her in 2007 as a global leader in
the field of privacy and data protection.
Majoras says she’s proud of her staff’s
achievements, which included teaching
consumers, police and others how to prevent
identity theft and help victims. “We really had
a program that spanned the whole range,
and I think it was one very positive thing that
we accomplished,” she says.
“She was the first person in and the
last person to leave,” says Parnes, now a
partner in the D.C. office of Wilson Sonsini
Goodrich & Rosati. “She has a very, very
high standard of excellence, and she
applies that to herself first and foremost,
and then to everyone around her.”
The FTC’s Leibowitz says that if he
ran a company and could hire any chief
legal officer he wanted, he would choose
Majoras. “She sees the big picture, yet sees
all the details,” he says. “That she’s doing
very, very well [at P&G] is not surprising.”
Covington’s Hester appreciates Majoras
in her role at P&G. “She’s a very smart,
analytical lawyer. She’s really good with
people. And she’s also a strong leader with
a strong vision,” he says. “It’s not often that
you see all of those traits in somebody.”
On top of that, he adds, “She’s an
exceptionally nice person to spend time
with. That’s a powerful combination as a
legal counsel.”
AS WELL-SUITED AS MAJORAS IS TO LAW,
she didn’t consider it as a career until
she had nearly completed her bachelor’s
degree in sociology and Spanish at
Westminster College in New Wilmington,
Pa. Having grown up in the small town of
Meadville, Pa., she knew few lawyers, so
law wasn’t in her frame of reference.
Instead, she intended to go into social
work. “I think I always grew up with that
sense of wanting to help serve others,”
Majoras says. “And what I didn’t realize
until I got older is that there are so many
different ways to do that.”
After graduating in 1985, she moved
with friends to Washington, D.C. “We
thought it was one of the most exciting
places on earth,” says Majoras, who took
a job as a receptionist in the D.C. office
of Porter Wright and was soon promoted
to paralegal. By then she was serious
about law and applied to the University of
Virginia School of Law. After graduating in
1989, she clerked for two years for Judge
Stanley S. Harris of the U.S. District Court
in the District of Columbia.
From there, she became an associate
at Jones Day, working for two years in the
Chicago office before going to the Cleveland
office. She developed an expertise in
antitrust law and, in 1999, became a partner
in Jones Day’s antitrust practice.
She was on her way to the firm’s D.C.
office when Jones Day colleague Charles
A. James was tapped to be the assistant
attorney general in charge of the Justice
Department’s Antitrust Division. He asked
her to be his deputy.
But as soon as she took the post in the
spring of 2001, she found herself taking
on a major antitrust matter alone while
190
SUPERLAWYERS.COM
AT TORNEYS SELECTED TO SUPER LAW YERS WERE CHOSEN IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROCESS ON PAGE 9.
