FTC commissioner to resign at end of month

The Federal Trade Commission’s Julie Brill is slated to leave the agency at the end of the month, opening up the second vacancy on the five-person panel.  

Brill, a Democrat, is slated to join Hogan Lovells to help lead the law firm’s privacy and security practices. She will also help out with the firm’s antitrust work.  

“Commissioner Brill’s expertise in consumer protection, privacy, and antitrust has been an asset to the agency, and we are sorry to see her leave. We wish her well on her next steps,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement. 

Brill was nominated by President Obama and joined the commission in 2010. Before that, she worked on consumer protection issues in North Carolina and Vermont. 

Last August, Republican Commissioner Joshua Wright resigned from the agency, returning to George Mason University as a law professor. Obama has not nominated a replacement in the months since he left. 

The FTC’s enforcement has increasingly focused on technology in recent years. And it has challenged a number of high-profile companies including Apple, Google, Amazon, Snapchat, Yelp, AT&T and T-Mobile for various alleged abuses.