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WEDNESDAY AUGUST 26, 1:00-2:30 PM “Everything You Wanted to Know about the FTC But Were Afraid to Ask” with Barry Cutler. BARRY CUTLER is a native of New Haven, Connecticut. After graduating from Cornell University and Columbia Law School, Barry was a judicial law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan from 1968 to 1970. He returned to New Haven as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (federal prosecutor) from 1970 to 1974. During that time, he also was an adjunct faculty member and taught a trial practice seminar at Yale Law School.

In 1974 he moved to Washington D.C. and worked with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for 4 years, including as a Deputy Assistant Director in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection and as Assistant General Counsel. Since 1978 Barry has been a partner in three law firms handling litigation and consumer protection counseling. The exception was three years (1990-1993) when Barry held a political appointment as Director of the FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau and managed the FTC’s consumer protection mission for 200 lawyers at Headquarters and in 10 Regional Offices. During that time, Barry also served as the U.S. representative to the Consumer Protection Directorate of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. Barry retired from law practice in 2019.

The FTC, along with the SEC & CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission), is one of several alphabet soup agencies that are called ”Independent Agencies.” What makes these agencies “independent” while others (the EPA, CDC, FDA, & FEMA) are part of the Administration?

Other topics include a discussion of some of the challenging issues the FTC addresses. Is advertising many misleading claims or a tool of fair competition? Do you understand how your credit score is computed or how some efforts to end lending discrimination inadvertently create discrimination against others? Finally, how do scammers fool smart people?