Koren Wong-Ervin
Partner
Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP
Koren Wong-Ervin
Partner
Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP
Koren Wong-Ervin is a recognized thought leader and has testified before Congress on domestic and international antitrust issues. She has more than sixteen years of experience, including representing defendants and plaintiffs in high-stakes litigations and representing technology companies in domestic and foreign investigations. Koren previously served at the Federal Trade Commission as Counsel for Intellectual Property and International Antitrust and as an Attorney Advisor to Commissioner Joshua Wright.
Koren is a frequent speaker and author, including training hundreds of foreign judges and competition enforcers on antitrust law and economics. She has spoken at over 100 domestic and international events and written dozens of articles on a variety of topics, including the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property, mergers, vertical restraints, platforms, incremental innovations or “product hopping,” optimal penalties, extraterritoriality, methodologies for calculating patent infringement damages, and international due process and convergence.
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Contributions
Fireside Chat with FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips: The House Judiciary Antitrust Staff Report
The Regulatory Transparency Project hosted a virtual fireside chat with FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips on the House Judiciary Antitrust Staff Report and its potential ramifications.
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Deep Dive Episode 146 – Fireside Chat with FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips
In this live podcast, FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips, Svetlana Gans, and Koren Wong-Ervin discuss the House Judiciary’s recent staff report and its potential ramifications.
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Should You Need a License to Massage a Horse?
In 2012, Celeste Kelly received a cease-and-desist letter from the Arizona State Veterinary Medical Examining Board for engaging in horse massage therapy without being a licensed veterinarian. Hear Celeste’s story and learn more about occupational licensure in this Fourth Branch video.
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Occupational Licensing, Antitrust, and Innovation
Every state has laws or regulations that require individuals seeking to offer a certain service to the public first to obtain approval from the state before they may operate in the state. Recent years have seen a significant proliferation of such laws, with less than 5% of jobs in the American economy requiring a license in the 1950’s to between 25-30% today. Although licensing in some occupations may benefit the public by reducing information asymmetry and/or ensuring a minimum quality level for a particular service, the significant growth in the number of occupations governed by some form of licensing requirements poses a potential threat to competition and consumer welfare. Our panel of experts discussed these important issues.
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Occupational Licensing and the American Dream
James C. Cooper, Koren Wong-Ervin, and Joshua D. Wright
More than a quarter of the American labor force requires a state license to work, a five-fold increase since the 1950s. Occupational licensing imposes restrictions on competition in every reach of the modern economy — with pernicious effects.
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