Cheryl A. Falvey is co-chair of Crowell & Moring's Advertising & Product Risk Management Group, a member of the firm's Management Board, and the former general counsel of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). An experienced trial lawyer, she defends class actions, unfair competition, product liability and other mass tort claims arising out of consumer, occupational, and environmental exposures, as well as antitrust, trade secret, intellectual property, and other technology litigation. She also provides brand and consumer protection counseling services, with a focus on product safety and security, including the Internet of Things; privacy; anti-counterfeiting; and digital media, including sweepstakes, promotions, and advertising. Ms. Falvey represents a wide range of clients, from emerging companies to multinational Fortune 500 conglomerates, in the automotive, chemical, consumer products, fashion and apparel, food and beverage, retail, and technology industries. Ms. Falvey was named to the National Law Journal's 2014 list of Governance, Risk & Compliance Trailblazers & Pioneers.
Ms. Falvey helps clients launch innovative new products while protecting their brand and reputation, avoid and defend liability in the marketing of their products, build safety and security into their products with science-based risk assessment, and successfully navigate product safety challenges with rapid response. She represents clients on litigation and counseling matters regarding compliance with statutes and regulations enforced by the CPSC, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). She handles product recalls conducted in cooperation with NHTSA, CPSC, and FDA, and defends clients in agency enforcement actions. She also advises manufacturers faced with the potential release of unfair and inaccurate information by the government. Additionally, she counsels and defends clients on the sale and marketing of consumer products on the Internet, including compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the FTC's Green Guides, state and federal privacy laws, and the statutory and common law rules regarding sweepstakes, online promotional and advertising activities, and charitable raffles.
Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, Ms. Falvey served as the general counsel of the CPSC. In that capacity, she oversaw all federal court litigation, including civil and criminal cases referred by the Commission to the Department of Justice. She also helped assure that the Commission complied with all applicable federal laws, including the Administrative Procedure Act, the Government in the Sunshine Act, the Privacy Act, and the Freedom of Information Act, and the Commission's own internal rules and directives. She handled issues related to the Commission's unique information disclosure regulations, its use of social media, contests and sweepstakes, and advised on issues related to privacy, anti-counterfeiting, preemption of state law, e-rulemaking, international regulatory cooperation on standards development, and incorporation by reference of voluntary standards in federal regulations. Her tenure at the CPSC included advising the agency on the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), a sweeping change to its statutes that had an impact across diverse industry sectors. She also acted as the CPSC's appointed government member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, participating on the Committee on Regulation.
Prior to joining the CPSC, Ms. Falvey had over 20 years of private practice experience as a partner with another international law firm where she chaired the firm's D.C. litigation practice.
