Obama Administration taps Silicon Valley counsel to champion consumer issues

US Deputy Assistant AG Ann Miller Ravel

Santa Clara County's top attorney, Ann Miller Ravel is heading to Washington D.C. to serve as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General heading the Office of Consumer Litigation and the Torts Branch in the Justice Department's Civil Division.

The Office of Consumer Litigation is responsible for criminal and civil litigation and related matters arising under federal statutes administered by the Federal Drug Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The Division's Torts Branch represents the government in lawsuits where monetary judgments are sought for damages resulting from alleged negligent or wrongful acts. The branch also handles actions involving injury or damage to government property.

Ravel broke through the glass ceiling to become the first woman to serve as Santa Clara County Counsel in 1998, after working her way up the ranks of the county counsel's office for more than three decades.

A wise choice by the Obama Administration, Ravel led Santa Clara County to become the first public entity to bring a case to remedy the affects of lead paint poisoning in a community. She also represented the county in tobacco litigation and won a major settlement that benefits the health needs of Santa Clara County.

Ravel's aggressive approach to consumer protection includes creating an award-winning elder-abuse litigation team, educational rights work, pushing for a courthouse to serve the county's most troubled families and work on sexual harassment and civil rights cases, as well as her duties as lead counsel representing the county.

She graduated from the University of California's Hastings Law School in San Francisco in 1974 and went on to practice civil law with an emphasis on political law and ethics, labor and employment, and civil rights litigation.

In July, Ravel will report to another Silicon Valley attorney, Assistant Attorney General Tony West, a one-time San Jose, CA city council candidate and head of the Justice Department's Civil Division.