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Maureen Ohlhausen
Partner
Antitrust and Competition
Washington, D.C.

D202-973-8808

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  • Respected Regulatory Leader

    Maureen has held the highest-ranking position at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), having served as Acting Chairman and Commissioner. She also served as the head of Policy Planning at the FTC, leading key initiatives in digital commerce issues. To date, she is the only FTC Commissioner to have received the Robert Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to the FTC.

  • Recognized by the Market

    Chambers USA consistently recognizes Maureen as a leading practitioner in its antitrust rankings, and Lawdragon has named her to its 500 Leading Litigators in America guide. Global Competition Review (GCR) honored Maureen on its “Women in Antitrust 2025” list and shortlisted her as a "Lawyer of the Year" finalist at its 2025 GCR Awards. The American Bar Association's Antitrust Law Section named Maureen to its 2025 "Hall of Fame-inism," honoring contributions to advancing women in the antitrust, consumer protection, and data privacy fields.

  • Influential Voice

    Maureen is a frequently published author and speaker, and leading media outlets often quote her on antitrust, FTC, privacy, and data security matters. She has testified before Congress more than two dozen times, including before the Senate Commerce Committee. U.S. courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court have cited her scholarship approvingly. A prime example is the "Bob" test for algorithmic coordination, which she coined while serving as acting chair of the FTC.

Maureen Ohlhausen co-chairs Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's antitrust and competition practice. A former acting chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the only FTC commissioner to receive the Robert Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award, she advises clients on complex antitrust and consumer protection matters. Sought after for her depth of experience on antitrust and FTC-related issues, Maureen is known for her relationships with officials in the U.S. and abroad.

Maureen advises clients on their most consequential antitrust and consumer protection challenges, spanning merger clearance, FTC investigations, and congressional inquiries. As one client told Chambers in 2024, she “sees the big picture and adeptly translates how all the various moving legal, policy, and regulatory pieces fit together on the antitrust landscape.”

She has guided companies through complex merger reviews, representing Ampere Computing in its $6.5 billion sale to SoftBank Group Corp. and HashiCorp in its $6.4 billion acquisition by IBM, both following Second Requests, as well as BrightSpring Health Services as the approved divestiture buyer in the UnitedHealth/Amedisys merger, which was named “Merger Control Matter of the Year (Americas)” at the 2026 GCR Awards. She also represents companies in government antitrust conduct investigations. On the enforcement side, she represents leading online companies in FTC investigations addressing children's privacy, online safety, billing, and advertising practices, including under statutes such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act.

Clients consistently point to her results. As one told Chambers in 2026, "Maureen is exceptional. We've yet to encounter an issue she wasn't able to work with us to resolve."

The Senate unanimously confirmed Maureen as an FTC Commissioner in 2012, and she became acting chairman in January 2017, a role she held until May 2018. As acting chairman, she directed all aspects of the agency's antitrust work, including merger review and conduct enforcement, as well as all consumer protection enforcement, with an emphasis on privacy and technology issues. Under her leadership, the FTC won several influential merger challenges in court and reached key digital privacy settlements. She previously served at the FTC as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning and headed the agency’s Internet Access Task Force.

A recognized thought leader, Maureen writes and speaks frequently and is regularly quoted by leading media on antitrust, FTC, and consumer protection matters. She has published dozens of articles spanning antitrust, privacy, intellectual property, regulation, FTC litigation, telecommunications, and international law. Courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have cited her policy analysis favorably. A prime example is the "Bob" test for algorithmic coordination, which she coined while serving as Acting Chair of the FTC and which the Department of Justice (DOJ) and courts have cited widely over the past year, including in the DOJ's statement of interest in In re RealPage, Inc.

During her tenure at the FTC and in private practice, she testified more than two dozen times before Congress, including before the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Antitrust Sub-Committee. She also testified before the Antitrust Modernization Commission.

 

 

Experience

Maureen Ohlhausen co-chairs Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's antitrust and competition practice. A former acting chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the only FTC commissioner to receive the Robert Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award, she advises clients on complex antitrust and consumer protection matters. Sought after for her depth of experience on antitrust and FTC-related issues, Maureen is known for her relationships with officials in the U.S. and abroad.

Maureen advises clients on their most consequential antitrust and consumer protection challenges, spanning merger clearance, FTC investigations, and congressional inquiries. As one client told Chambers in 2024, she “sees the big picture and adeptly translates how all the various moving legal, policy, and regulatory pieces fit together on the antitrust landscape.”

She has guided companies through complex merger reviews, representing Ampere Computing in its $6.5 billion sale to SoftBank Group Corp. and HashiCorp in its $6.4 billion acquisition by IBM, both following Second Requests, as well as BrightSpring Health Services as the approved divestiture buyer in the UnitedHealth/Amedisys merger, which was named “Merger Control Matter of the Year (Americas)” at the 2026 GCR Awards. She also represents companies in government antitrust conduct investigations. On the enforcement side, she represents leading online companies in FTC investigations addressing children's privacy, online safety, billing, and advertising practices, including under statutes such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act.

Clients consistently point to her results. As one told Chambers in 2026, "Maureen is exceptional. We've yet to encounter an issue she wasn't able to work with us to resolve."

The Senate unanimously confirmed Maureen as an FTC Commissioner in 2012, and she became acting chairman in January 2017, a role she held until May 2018. As acting chairman, she directed all aspects of the agency's antitrust work, including merger review and conduct enforcement, as well as all consumer protection enforcement, with an emphasis on privacy and technology issues. Under her leadership, the FTC won several influential merger challenges in court and reached key digital privacy settlements. She previously served at the FTC as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning and headed the agency’s Internet Access Task Force.

A recognized thought leader, Maureen writes and speaks frequently and is regularly quoted by leading media on antitrust, FTC, and consumer protection matters. She has published dozens of articles spanning antitrust, privacy, intellectual property, regulation, FTC litigation, telecommunications, and international law. Courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have cited her policy analysis favorably. A prime example is the "Bob" test for algorithmic coordination, which she coined while serving as Acting Chair of the FTC and which the Department of Justice (DOJ) and courts have cited widely over the past year, including in the DOJ's statement of interest in In re RealPage, Inc.

During her tenure at the FTC and in private practice, she testified more than two dozen times before Congress, including before the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Antitrust Sub-Committee. She also testified before the Antitrust Modernization Commission.

 

 

Focus Areas
Recent Insights
Alerts
Another Signal on the Antitrust Risks of Pricing Algorithms
On July 29, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit allowed a class action alleging antitrust violations against companies using a common pricing algorithm to proceed.1 The Third Circuit held that when an “algorithm is in effect collecting non-public commercial information from [competitors] and utilizing the collective pot of data to ‘suggest’ prices to each [competitor],” that “surely raise[s] a plausible inference of collusion under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.”2
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News Articles
Wilson Sonsini Attorneys Named to Lexology Index: Competition 2026
On July 29, 2026, 10 Wilson Sonsini attorneys were named to the Lexology Index: Competition guide for 2026. The guide ranks leading competition lawyers, state aid specialists, and competition economists who advise and represent clients in internal, regulatory, and criminal investigations.
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Recent Events
Speaking Engagements
Technology Policy Institute: Aspen Forum 2026
Wilson Sonsini partner and former FTC Acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen is participating in the TPI Aspen Forum, held at the St. Regis Aspen Resort. On August 18, Maureen joins fellow panelists from the U.S. Department of Justice and academia for a discussion titled "Overruling Humphrey's Executor: The Implications for Antitrust Enforcement," moderated by Thomas Lenard, Senior Fellow and President Emeritus of the Technology Policy Institute.
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Speaking Engagements
The FTC After Trump v. Slaughter Conference
Wilson Sonsini partner and former FTC Acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen is participating in "The FTC After Trump v. Slaughter," a joint conference of the American Antitrust Institute and the George Washington University Law School's Competition Law Center Competition Law Center. 
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