Each time you can help the clients achieve their goals, there is such a clear and direct connection to the company’s overall success. It is remarkably satisfying work.

Practice Areas

Compliance
Food

Education

J.D. Rutgers University – Camden, 1977
B.A. University of Maryland College Park, 1973

Admissions and Qualifications

District of Columbia

Prior Experience

Kraft Foods Global, Inc. (1990-2010)
Federal Trade Commission (1977-1990)

Paul Petruccelli

[email protected]

971-282-5565

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Attorney Tabs

Overview

Paul Petruccelli was previously the Vice President and Chief Counsel of Kraft Foods in Asia Pacific. A seasoned business lawyer with 20 years of in-house experience at one of the world’s largest packaged food companies, Mr. Petruccelli joined Kraft Foods following 13 years of service at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, DC. There, he held a variety of staff and management positions in the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and received the agency’s highest honor–the Chairman’s Award–in recognition of his superior accomplishments that substantially benefited the American public.

In 1990, Mr. Petruccelli joined Kraft Foods as Senior Counsel. Initially a specialist in marketing issues, he developed expertise in food law, e-commerce and privacy matters, crisis management, and broader corporate law matters. In 2005, he was named Senior Director for Global Health & Wellness Policy, and was one of the principal architects of internal policies and self-regulatory initiatives Kraft pursued in that area. In 2007, Mr. Petruccelli assumed the Regional Chief Counsel role in Asia Pacific, where he was responsible for all legal matters, including compliance with local laws and regulations, contractual matters, legal oversight of Kraft's joint venture and licensee relationships throughout the region, and acquisition and divestiture management.

Mr. Petruccelli is an honors graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park, and received his law degree from the Rutgers School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of its Law Journal. He currently serves as the Vice President and a board member of the Buy1Give1 Giving Society, a global giving initiative based in Singapore.

Experience

Advised a diverse set of Kraft Foods businesses on new product development, marketing strategies, and challenges involving competitors’ advertising and labeling practices, repeatedly and successfully contesting others’ practices while defending those of Kraft.
Managed and successfully concluded inquiries into Kraft advertising practices by the Federal Trade Commission.
Advised a US food company defending challenges to its advertising practices, and pursuing challenges to its competitors’ practices.
Provided compliance training to clients in the US and abroad regarding marketing and promotional practices, the substantiation of advertising claims, food labeling, website design and development, online privacy practices, crisis management strategies and best practices, document retention and legal compliance.
Following Kraft’s acquisition of Nabisco, renegotiated agreements with all of the major suppliers of marketing services to those organizations, including market research suppliers, advertising and media services agencies, promotional support agencies, and others.
In the early days of corporate website development, collaborated with other advertisers and their agencies to develop a self-regulatory approach to children’s online privacy that was applauded by regulators, and was subsequently enacted into law in the United States.
Led Kraft’s successful effort to gain broad industry consensus on a self-regulation program for children’s food advertising in the United States, leading to creation of the Children’s Food & Beverage Advertising Initiative at the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
Led the successful integration of the Legal and Compliance functions at Kraft Asia Pacific following Kraft’s US$7.5 billion acquisition of the global biscuit portfolio of Groupe Danone.
Successfully negotiated a restructuring of Kraft Asia Pacific’s $300MM licensing agreement with its Japanese licensee.
Successfully negotiated a restructured and expanded licensing agreement with Kraft Asia Pacific’s dairy products licensee in Japan.
Developed and successfully implemented the legal strategy for reducing the “hold time” on parmesan cheese in the United States from 9 months to 6 months, generating one-time savings of US$40MM and ongoing annualized savings.
Wrote Kraft’s crisis management plan for major catastrophes, designed innovative scenarios to test readiness, and implemented training sessions to ensure thorough understanding of roles and responsibilities by senior company managers.

Professional Activities

Bar

District of Columbia Bar Association

Community

Buy1Give1 Giving Society (Vice President, Board of Directors, 2011-2017)
Buy1Give1 Giving Society (Member, Board of Directors, 2010-2011)
GK Hope Initiative (Member, Board of Directors, 2010-2011)
American Advertising Federation (Legal Committee Chair, 1994-2004)
Children’s Advertising Review Unit (Advisory Committee Member, 1992-2004)

Awards

Federal Trade Commission, Chairman’s Award, 1988
Federal Trade Commission, Distinguished Service Award, 1990
Kraft Foods, Superior Achievement Award, 1999

Publishing & Speaking

Publications

“Getting It Right: Shortcuts for Busy Practitioners to Evaluate Web Content,” LLRX.com, March 18, 2002.
“Consumer and Marketing Implications of Information Provision: The Case of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Vol. 15, No. 1, Spring 1996.

Speaking Engagements

“Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity: Focus on Industry,” Plenary Panelist, Irvine, CA, December 1, 2005.
“Testimony on S. 1233, The Product Packaging Protection Act, Before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights and Competition of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 107^th Congress, 1^st Session,” Washington, D.C., August 1, 2001.