Philippa Scarlett

Former Deputy Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator during the Obama Administration

Philippa Scarlett served as Deputy Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator and Senior Counselor for the Executive Office of the President during the Obama Administration. In that role, she developed and coordinated intellectual property enforcement policy across the federal government, including policy to support the creative and innovative industries such as the film, music, broadcasting, sports, publishing, tech, pharma, and fashion industries. In 2017, Scarlett was appointed to the ACS board of directors.

During her work with the Obama Administration, Scarlett also developed and coordinated policy to combat cyber-enabled trade secret theft, online commercial piracy, and the global trade in counterfeit products and related consumer protection and supply chain integrity challenges.

Before her service at the White House, Scarlett served as Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice. As a member of DOJ's senior leadership team, her portfolio included management of policy as well as major civil and criminal enforcement matters of the Civil Rights Division; Antitrust Division; Access to Justice Office; and intellectual property matters from across the agency.

Previously, Scarlett was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Her practice consisted of high-stakes litigation in trial and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, on a broad range of topics such as product liability, mass torts, constitutional law, antitrust and intellectual property. Her pro bono practice included litigating high-profile matters involving voting rights, affirmative action, and poverty law. She was featured by the National Law Journal as among the "Top Minority 40 Under 40 Attorneys" in the country for her work.

Scarlett clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court and for the Hon. Ann C. Williams on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Previously, she worked in DOJ’s Criminal Division, where she developed and managed U.S. rule of law and criminal justice assistance programs in Colombia, Ecuador, Rwanda, and South Africa.

She received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, her master's from Harvard University, and her law degree from Columbia Law School. She also studied at the Free University of Berlin, Germany as a German Academic Exchange Award (DAAD) recipient.