Christine A. Varney

She joined the faculty of Columbia Law School as a lecturer in Law in 2017, and teaches the course Antitrust in Action, alongside Cravath partner and author David Marriot.

As legal counsel and spokesperson for the Online Privacy Alliance, Varney championed self-regulation as the basis for encouraging compliance with Internet privacy standards. Over time, Varney's position changed — according to an article from November 2000, Varney said, "You could characterize the OPA as having a mantra of 'self-regulation, self-regulation, self-regulation’ . . . Next year, the mantra will be 'industry best practices as part of a comprehensive solution, and there may be legislation that would help.’"

Christine A. Varney is an American lawyer, an internet policy and antitrust expert, and a data privacy advocate, who is most widely known as a former U.S. Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division for the Obama Administration, and as a Federal Trade Commissioner for the Clinton Administration. Since August 2011, Varney has been a partner of the New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where she chairs the antitrust department.

In October 2010, Varney brought an anti-competition suit against Visa Inc., MasterCard, each of which soon settled, and American Express, which did not.

Varney was nominated for the position of Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice in February 2009, and confirmed by the Senate on April 20, 2009. On August 4, 2011, Varney resigned her position at the Justice Department; Evan Chesler, the presiding partner at Cravath, then recruited Varney to join the firm, which she did, in September 2011, when average partner pay at the firm was 3.1 million. Varney is one of only fourth outsider recruited to be named a partner at the firm in 50 years. There, Varney has advised clients on mergers across various industries, including acquisitions of Time Warner by ATT, Virgin Atlantic by Delta, Talenti by Unilever, Pinnacle by Conagra, and Heinz by Kraft

Upon her nomination as the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division by President Barack Obama, Varney was predicted to be a more aggressive enforcer of antitrust laws than her predecessors in the Bush administration. Her nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 20, 2009, by a vote of 87 to 1.

Consistent with predictions, one of Varney's first acts as an Assistant Attorney General was to withdraw the Justice Department's 2008 guidelines for enforcement of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. In her first public comments as an Assistant Attorney General, Varney criticized the guidelines for "effectively straightjacket[ing] antitrust enforcers and courts from redressing monopolistic abuses, thereby allowing all but the most bold and predatory conduct to go unpunished and undeterred." She delivered the speech twice, first, on May 11, 2009, at the Center for American Progress and, on the following day, at the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Between 2009 and 2011, the Antitrust Division's criminal enforcement work resulted in the assessment of over $1.5 billion in fines against criminal conspirators.

Varney was a fundraiser for the Hillary Clinton campaign, during the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries and the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Following the election of President Barack Obama, in 2009, Varney served as personnel counsel on the Obama-Biden Transition Project.

Varney served in the Clinton Administration as a Federal Trade Commissioner from October 17, 1994 to August 5, 1997. As a Commissioner, Varney voted to bring actions against Toys 'R' Us for pressuring manufacturers to keep popular toys out of discount stores; to pursue charges of unfair advertising against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, for its "Joe Camel" advertising campaign; and to impose conditions on the mega-merger between Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting System. In her individual capacity, Varney became known for spearheading the FTC's examination of privacy and commerce, and for promoting innovation market theory analysis in the fields of information technology and biotechnology.

Varney served as general counsel to the Democratic National Committee, during 1989 to 1992; chief counsel to the Clinton and Gore Campaign, 1991 to 1992; general counsel to the 1992 Presidential Inaugural Committee; associate and partner of the firm of Hogan & Hartson, from 1990 to 1993; and as Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet, in 1993 and 1994. In the latter role, she acted as a liaison between the White House and cabinet departments. She stated the Clinton Administration's philosophy of cabinet management this way: "if you don’t surprise us, we won't micromanage you!"

Varney earned a B.A. from State University of New York at Albany, in 1977; studied abroad at Trinity College, Dublin during 1975 and 1976; earned an M.P.A. from Syracuse's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, graduating magna cum laude, in 1982; then a J.D. from Georgetown Law School, in 1986.