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Jehan Patterson

Jehan Patterson leverages her extensive experience as a civil litigator and trial attorney in private practice and for the federal government to provide actionable advice that is informed by deep regulatory insight to clients across industries on a wide range of consumer protection matters.

Jehan is a member of the Advertising and Consumer Protection Investigations group. She represents corporate and individual clients in consumer protection investigations and litigation by the FTC and state Attorneys General and state financial regulators. She advises clients on consumer protection considerations relating to generative and agentic artificial intelligence, state and federal laws governing autorenewal programs, sustainability and other environmental claims, the FTC’s Made in USA rule, the USDA’s National Organic Program, adtech, and other advertising matters. Jehan also represents clients in complex civil litigation involving consumer protection claims.

Before joining Covington, Jehan was a Senior Litigation Counsel in the Office of Enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she led investigations into numerous providers of consumer financial products and services for violations of federal consumer financial laws and regulations, including the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s prohibition against unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices.

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A Washington State Supreme Court decision last spring that construed that state’s Commercial Electronic Mail Act (“CEMA”) to broadly prohibit any misleading information in retailers’ email subject lines has opened the floodgates to similar state spam claims. In the past six months, there have been eight putative class action complaints alleging that retailers’ misleading email subject lines violate CEMA, and more alleging similar claims under other state spam laws. Businesses face heightened exposure to liability for marketing practices that seek to convey a sense of urgency with respect to promotional timelines. This spate of litigation raises important questions about the scope and enforceability of state anti-spam laws, including whether such claims are preempted under the federal Controlling the Assault of Non–Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (“CAN-SPAM Act”).  Continue Reading Recent Class Actions Under State Anti-Spam Laws Target Retail Email Marketing Practices and Raise Questions about CAN-SPAM Act Preemption