Anthony E. DiResta
Partner, Holland & Knight LLPBusiness Regulation & Regulated Industries
ABOUT
Anthony E. DiResta, co-chair of the Holland & Knight’s Consumer Protection Defense and Compliance Team, is an attorney in the Washington, D.C., and Miami offices. Mr. DiResta is a nationally recognized leader in defending governmental law enforcement investigations and litigation, who has successfully defended companies and individuals in dozens of high-profile, “bet-the-company” investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and almost all of the state attorneys general – with many of those investigations being closed.
Mr. DiResta is accomplished in crisis management. In addition to managing the investigations or litigation involved, he has developed strategic communication plans, including media relations, and counseled executives and boards of directors.
Mr. DiResta is a former director of the FTC’s Southeast Regional office, where he supervised many of the enforcement, investigative, litigation and outreach activities of the Competition and Consumer Protection Bureaus of the agency. Among his accomplishments is his initiation and management of a consumer protection law enforcement sweep – including the DOJ, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 15 state attorneys general and the FTC – that resulted in more than 25 lawsuits and proceedings throughout the country. Furthermore, under his leadership, the FTC Southeast Regional office received the John Marshall Award from the U.S. Attorney General for its enforcement achievements.
Mr. DiResta also served as a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. He was involved in criminal prosecutions of individuals involved in telemarketing fraud against the elderly. In addition, Mr. DiResta was appointed as a receiver in a federal enforcement action, and has served as an expert witness in FTC governmental litigation.
The range of his skills and knowledge is broad, as his clients are involved in many key industry sectors, including financial services (from banks to debt collection agencies), healthcare (from pharmaceutical companies to nutritional supplements), media (from social media platforms to television networks), hospitality (from hotels to reservation and travel sites), food and beverage (from fast food companies to soda brands), real estate (including time share companies), transportation (including car dealerships), and major manufacturers and retailers. And, the issues he has addressed cover all consumer protection topics, including privacy / data breaches / data security, marketing practices, social media advertising, internet law, unfair competition, federal and state regulations, and compliance management.
He is recognized as one of the national leaders in the Consumer Protection Bar. For example, in June 2015, Mr. DiResta was honored as one of the nation’s top “Regulatory Trailblazers & Pioneers” by The National Law Journal. It is an exclusive award that honors prominent lawyers in the country who are leaders in successfully navigating regulatory and compliance law.
Mr. DiResta served as general counsel and director of regulatory affairs to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), the trade association that focuses on social media marketing; and in that role, he consulted with the FTC on policy matters impacting digital advertising. He also holds leadership positions in several trade associations in the financial services industry.
As a thought leader on legal, regulatory, and policy matters, Mr. DiResta is a frequent speaker and panelist at leading conferences, has been interviewed and quoted by journalists in prominent media platforms, has chaired consumer protection summits, and has interviewed senior officials at the FTC and CFPB on enforcement initiatives, rulemaking, and supervisory examinations at leading industry forums.
Mr. DiResta also has extensive experience in organizational management and board of directors matters, including effective governance procedures with for-profit and nonprofit companies. He has developed and implemented polices concerning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He has also worked extensively on compliance management matters, including drafting, training for and monitoring compliance policies and procedures.
Mr. DiResta is widely published in the areas of commercial litigation, FTC and CFPB matters, governmental investigations, consumer protection and antitrust law – with many of his articles cited by the courts and law review publications. In fact, one of his articles was cited with approval by the U.S. Supreme Court in a leading antitrust decision.
In addition, Mr. DiResta is a life member of the American Law Institute (ALI), having served as an advisor and a member of Consultative Groups on several ALI projects, including the Principles of the Law, Data Privacy; Principles of the Law, Compliance, Risk Management and Enforcement; Principles of the Law, Governmental Ethics; and the Restatement of the Law, The Law Governing Lawyers. He also served in leadership positions with American Bar Association (ABA), Section of Litigation.
Finally, Mr. DiResta is the 2020 recipient of the Rollins College Alumni Service Award and is committed to pro bono and community service. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the Rollins College Alumni Board of Directors in Winter Park, Florida, the Board of Directors for Young Concert Artists in New York City (where he serves as co-chair of the Governance Committee) and the Board of Directors of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Florida, where he serves as co-chair of the Board. He also received the Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) for successfully representing a university newspaper before the Georgia Supreme Court, a case of first impression in first amendment jurisprudence concerning media access to governmental proceedings and documents.
