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Clay Marquez

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Areas of Focus

Overview

Clay Marquez brings a unique combination of product safety and litigation experience to advise clients on compliance with statutes and regulations enforced by the CPSC, FDA, EPA, and USDA. He is an accomplished litigator recognized for his successful representation of major corporations in high-stakes legal disputes across various sectors, including retail, technology, and financial services. Clay has experience handling securities and consumer class actions, internal investigations, regulatory inquiries, and enforcement actions. He has represented a wide range of clients in both state and federal courts, from Fortune 100 companies to privately held tech companies and start-ups.

With a strong background as vice president and counsel at two leading retail and consumer companies, Clay brings a unique blend of industry insight and legal insight to his practice. Clay is regularly called upon to evaluate, manage, and fix complex, high-risk situations. He strategically navigates business problems by assessing obstacles, determining best outcomes, and presenting his clients with creative solutions and alternative approaches tailored to their risk tolerance.

Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, Clay served as senior corporate counsel at Amazon leading the Regulatory Intelligence Safety & Compliance Legal Team in supporting product safety and compliance efforts in North America. In this role, Clay acted as Amazon's principal point of contact for the CPSC and was responsible for developing comprehensive worldwide product safety and compliance strategies with a focus on Amazon's CPSC relationship and related business, policy, and legal objectives. Prior to Amazon, Clay served as vice president and senior counsel for product and vendor compliance at Restoration Hardware, where he similarly led the team responsible for company-wide product testing and vendor validation, product incident investigations and failure analyses, evaluation of reporting obligations, and coordination of public recall efforts. Prior to working in-house, Clay worked as an associate and counsel for more than 10 years at two different AmLaw 50 litigation firms.

Career & Education

    • Senior Corporate Counsel, Product Safety & Regulatory Compliance, Amazon, 2022–2025
    • Vice President, Senior Counsel, Product & Vendor Compliance, Restoration Hardware, 2022
    • Senior Counsel – Commercial Litigation, Senior Director – Product Safety & Compliance, Restoration Hardware 2021–2022
    • Senior Corporate Counsel, Product Safety & Regulatory Compliance, Amazon, 2022–2025
    • Vice President, Senior Counsel, Product & Vendor Compliance, Restoration Hardware, 2022
    • Senior Counsel – Commercial Litigation, Senior Director – Product Safety & Compliance, Restoration Hardware 2021–2022

    • Fordham University School of Law, J.D., 2009
    • University of New Mexico, M.A., 2006
    • University of Southern California, B.A., 2003
    • Fordham University School of Law, J.D., 2009
    • University of New Mexico, M.A., 2006
    • University of Southern California, B.A., 2003

    • California
    • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
    • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
    • California
    • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
    • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

  • Co-chair, Economic Leadership Council, University of Southern California, 2019–Present

    Co-chair, Economic Leadership Council, University of Southern California, 2019–Present

Representative Matters

  • Development of appropriate internal policies and procedures for streamlining responses to formal notices and inquiries from CPSC, FDA, and others and related negotiations with regulators regarding the same.
  • Development of internal policies and new programs to support recalls and third-party recall logistics services, safety investigations and worldwide reporting obligations and coordination, and related regulatory requirements for third-party sellers. 
  • Reviewed, audited, and re-developed internal programs for internal product safety testing, post-test reporting, and collection and validation of testing documentation and samples from third-party vendors and labs.
  • Engaged in direct discussions with CPSC, FDA, and Health Canada for purposes of educating regulators on client operations and unique client considerations, identifying opportunities for collaborative working relationships, and encouraging more informal communications to avoid formal notices and expedite appropriate safety outcomes.
  • Advised on recall and market withdrawal efforts for FDA regulated products, including coordination with retail and supply chain partners on appropriate inventory management and disposal practices, appropriate internal policies and practices for customer safety communications and related alerts, and strategic assessment of additional legal obligations and regulatory requirements in foreign markets where the same products are sold.  
  • Advised on legislative proposals for CPSA amendments and/or rulemaking intended to help drive clarity and operational certainty regarding reporting and recall obligations for online marketplaces and third-party sellers.
  • Represented an American technology company in consumer class action alleging fraud and material omissions.
  • Represented a consumer health product company in multiple class action lawsuits alleging consumer fraud and false advertising.
  • Defended a tobacco company in tandem of a federal lawsuit alleging product liability and multiple state AG inquiries regarding advertising and marketing practices of its e-cigarette devices.
  • Defended a technology company in multidistrict antitrust litigation alleging damages to consumers and app developers resulting from anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct.
  • Represented a systems solution company in private antitrust action alleging exclusionary conduct in violation of the Clayton Act.
  • Defended an automobile manufacturer in consumer class action alleging consumer fraud and breach of warranty related to introduction of first-to-market driver technologies.
  • Advised a television and radio network conglomerate in three-sided commercial dispute relating to FTC bandwidth auctions, alleging negligence and breach of fiduciary duty in third-party blind bidding process.
  • Represented the former CEO of a banking company in a major securities class action alleging hundreds of millions in damages resulting from securities fraud and negligence in connection with the underwriting of home mortgages and associated risk management practices.
  • Represented the outside directors of a manufacturer of home construction materials in a securities class action alleging fraudulent misstatements and omissions in connection with the company’s initial offering.
  • Advised a communication technology company in multiple internal investigations related to alleged insider trading and mismanagement of corporate funds by a senior executive.