Pamela B. Gilbert (born October 3, 1958) is an American lawyer and has been a partner of the law firm
Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP since 2003, where she heads the firm's lobbying practice. Gilbert is a noted consumer rights advocate who has testified before
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
over fifty times and made dozens of appearances in the national print and electronic media. Gilbert leads the Committee to Support Antitrust laws (COSAL), an organization supportive of
antitrust legislation.
Early career and education
Gilbert graduated magna cum laude from
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
with a B.A. in Mathematics in 1980 and received her
J.D. degree from New York University in 1984. She was a
Root-Tilden The Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship is a full-tuition public service scholarship for students at New York University School of Law. It is widely considered to be the most prestigious public interest scholarship for law students in the United States.
T ...
scholar at NYU Law School.
After law school, Gilbert served as Consumer Program Director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group from 1984-1989 where she specialized in consumer protection issues. She led the effort for congressional enactment of legislation to protect children from toxic art supplies.
From 1989-1994, Gilbert was Legislative Director and later Executive Director of
Public Citizen's Congress Watch, a Washington-based consumer advocacy organization.
Public service
Gilbert served as Executive Director of the
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC, CPSC, or commission) is an independent agency of the United States government. The CPSC seeks to promote the safety of consumer products by addressing “unreasonable risks” of inj ...
(CPSC) from 1995-2001. In 2001 she left the government to serve as Chief Operating Officer of M&R Strategic Services, a national firm set up to lobby and conduct grassroots and media campaigns around public policy issues.
In 2009, after the election of President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
, Gilbert headed the
Presidential Transition Team for the
Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Post-government career
Gilbert represented the National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys to oppose efforts in Congress to change the rules for bringing class action lawsuits. Gilbert subsequently represented the
Center for Justice & Democracy, opposing efforts in Congress to impose Federal government restrictions on malpractice laws.
2007-2009
In 2007, Gilbert worked with public interest organizations and victims of Enron's collapse to persuade the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the
Bush Administration to adopt a position in a case pending before the
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
– ''Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta Inc. and Motorola Inc.'' – that would ensure that people slighted by Enron could sue the investment banks that participated in the frauds that led to Enron's failure.
Gilbert's firm held press conferences in
Washington, D.C.
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and elsewhere, meeting with administration officials such as then-SEC Chairman
Christopher Cox.
On November 15 of that same year, Gilbert testified before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law of the
House Committee on the Judiciary
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
on "Protecting the Playroom: Holding Foreign Manufacturers Accountable for Defective Products."
In 2008, Gilbert worked with the Center for Justice and Democracy to bring before Congress families with children who developed
lead poisoning from hazardous toys, to urge the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement act of 2008. This landmark legislation placed limits on the amount of lead that can be used in children's products.
Also that year, Gilbert testified before the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
on behalf of consumers who were assessed fees for switching cell phone companies before their contracts expired. Her position was that such fees were unfair. She urged the FCC not to preempt state laws and state-based lawsuits intended to protect consumers from these allegedly unfair practices by cell phone companies.
Over the course of three years from 2007–2009, Gilbert organized a coalition of over a dozen labor and nonprofit organizations to support legislation that would provide a pathway for the approval of generic versions of costly medicines. A version of this legislation was later incorporated in national health care reform policies.
In 2009, Gilbert worked with people injured by defects in
Chrysler and
General Motors vehicles to urge the
Obama administration and the automobile companies to modify their bankruptcy agreements to ensure that personal injury victims would have an opportunity to receive compensation. As a result, the agreements were modified to allow people injured in the future by vehicles manufactured before the bankruptcy to be compensated for their injuries.
2010
On February 4, 2010, Gilbert participated in a
webcast sponsored by
OMB Watch
The Center for Effective Government, formerly OMB Watch, was a think tank and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. It was focused on government transparency. Founded in 1983, the organization ceased operations in 2016, folding its work into th ...
on "The Obama Administration and Public Protections."
On behalf of the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws, Gilbert worked with Congress and the Obama Administration to amend the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act to ensure that members of criminal antitrust conspiracies adequately cooperate with civil lawsuits in return for reduced damages.
On June 10, 2010, Pamela Gilbert was appointed to the board of directors of the AAI (American Antitrust Institute).
2011–Present
On behalf of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS), Gilbert led the successful lobbying effort to pass a federal law prohibiting rental car companies from renting or selling recalled cars until they are repaired. Gilbert worked with Mrs. Cally Houck, whose two daughters were killed in a rental car that caught on fire and crashed as a result of an unrepaired defect that had been subject to a safety recall. President Obama on December 4, 2015 signed into law the "Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act" (H.R. 2198, S. 1173), sponsored by Reps. Capps, Jones, Schakowsky and Butterfield and Sens. Schumer, Boxer, McCaskill and others, as part of the
Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act
The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act or the FAST Act is a funding and authorization bill to govern United States federal surface transportation spending. It was passed by Congress on December 3, 2015, and President Barack Obama signed ...
(FAST Act).
Gilbert represents SD3, LLC, which owns
SawStop
SawStop is an American table saw manufacturer headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon. The company was founded in 2000 to sell table saws that feature a patented automatic braking system that stops the blade upon contact with skin or flesh. According t ...
, a table saw manufacturer whose table saws are equipped with technology that stops a spinning saw blade in milliseconds when it comes in contact with human flesh. Gilbert has worked with SawStop and a coalition of consumer protection groups in an effort to enact a mandatory safety standard so that all table saws contain injury mitigation technology to prevent amputations and other serious laceration injuries. The CPSC published a notice of proposed rulemaking in 2011 and in 2015 the commission's staff urged adoption of the new requirement.
Gilbert is working with a coalition of patients with diseases caused by asbestos exposure and their families to defeat the proposed
Furthering Asbestos Claims Transparency (FACT) Act of 2015 (H.R. 526, S. 357). The proposal would require asbestos trusts to file quarterly reports about the payouts they make and personal information on the victims who receive them in a publicly accessible database. Opponents argue that this would violate the privacy of victims and use trust funds to meet the new administrative requirements, making it more difficult for asbestos claimants to receive timely and full compensation.
Notable writings
In 2008, Gilbert wrote a chapter entitled "Consumer Product Safety Commission: Safety First" for ''Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President,'' published by the
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The president and chief executive offic ...
and the
New Democracy Project.
In 2010, Gilbert authored a chapter in ''Materials on Tort Reform'' by
Professor Andrew Popper of the Washington College of Law at American University.
In 2012, Gilbert co-authored with
Victoria Romanenko a chapter in Private Enforcement of the Antitrust Laws in the United States (edited by Albert A. Foer and Randy M. Stutz).
Controversy
In 2001, Gilbert stepped down as executive director of the
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) after President Bush sparked a constitutional controversy by seeking to replace the leadership of the Commission, citing his powers under
Article Two of the United States Constitution
Article Two of the United States Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government, which carries out and enforces federal laws. Article Two vests the power of the executive branch in the office of the president of the Unite ...
. Later, in 2008, Gilbert was mentioned as a possible appointee by President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
to be Chairman of the Commission. However, her nomination was criticized on the grounds that while she was executive director of the CPSC, the agency was known for its "strident enforcement efforts" contrary to large business interests.
Personal life
Gilbert is married to
Charles Lewis, Professor of Journalism at
American University, founder of the
Center for Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to ...
, and a former producer for
60 Minutes.
With Lewis she raises two children, Cassandra and Gabriel.
See also
*
Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP
*
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC, CPSC, or commission) is an independent agency of the United States government. The CPSC seeks to promote the safety of consumer products by addressing “unreasonable risks” of inj ...
References
External links
Pamela Gilbert's profile on the Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Pamela
Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni
New York University School of Law alumni
Lawyers from Washington, D.C.
1958 births
Living people
People from New Brunswick, New Jersey