Ms. Heller served at nation’s premier nutritional advocacy group, as regulatory expert on dietary supplements, food labeling, nutritional claims and other issues
Washington, DC (January 31, 2012) –
Venable LLP announced that
Ilene Ringel Heller, a longtime food and drug regulatory attorney who spent over 14 years at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), where she rose to Associate Director of Legal Affairs, has joined the firm as an Of Counsel in its Food and Drug Law practice in Washington.
At CSPI, Ms. Heller served as an authority on the regulation of food labeling, functional foods and dietary supplements. As the Legal Affairs Project’s second in command, she was responsible for legal briefs, congressional testimony and complaint letters, comments, and petitions to federal agencies.
She regularly represented the organization before the Food & Drug Administration and other federal agencies and industry groups, such as the Food & Drug Law Institute.
Ms. Heller was responsible for organizing a meeting between the White House Domestic Policy Council and a coalition of major health and consumer groups on food labeling reform issues, leading to a request to develop a detailed timetable for implementation of food labeling reforms.
Venable regularly represents leading food, drug and medical device makers in regulatory and legislative matters, including proceedings before the FDA and Federal Trade Commission. The firm’s FDA group is complemented by one of the nation’s preeminent advertising law practices, which advises a host of food and dietary supplement producers and the companies that market them. Ms. Heller is expected to be active in all areas of practice at Venable.
“The experience Ilene acquired at one of the food industry’s most active watchdog groups has given her an invaluable understanding of the line that manufacturers, marketers, retailers and others must maintain good relations with regulators, lawmakers and consumer groups,” said
Todd Harrison, chair of Venable’s Food and Drug Practice. “She brings a unique perspective that our clients will find informative and necessary as they attempt to navigate the often complex regulatory issues facing food and dietary supplement companies. We are pleased to welcome Ilene to the firm, where her counsel will be sought literally throughout the food chain of our food and drug practice.”
Prior to joining the CSPI in 1996, Ms. Heller was an associate in the food and drug practices of Arnold & Porter and Keller and Heckman.
“Venable has a top-flight team of attorneys focused on food and drug matters, coupled with an advertising group that daily contends with the types of issues I followed at CSPI, from product labeling to nutritional and other health claims, as well as potential regulatory enforcement,” Ms. Heller said. “I envision a very full plate to work with right from the start.”
Ms. Heller is an editorial board member of the Food and Drug Law Journal. Before attending law school, she was a reporter at
The Legal Times of Washington.
Ms. Heller received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center (1982), along with a Masters in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism (1975), and her B.A. from New York University (1974).
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