Foley Receives Partnership Award from Direct Selling Association

Foley & Lardner LLP received the Direct Selling Association’s (DSA) Partnership Award in recognition of the firm’s services to the industry.

The Partnership Award is presented to supplier companies that provide a product or service that has had a measurable impact on the growth or development of a direct selling member company or increases the profitability of a member.

After a more than seven-year battle, in September of 2023, a Foley team secured a complete victory on behalf of DSA member and direct-selling wellness company Neora and its founder Jeff Olson in a landmark case against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), marking the first time a direct-selling company defeated the FTC’s pyramid scheme claims in a trial. As summarized by the DSA in its amicus brief in the case, had the FTC been successful in pursuing its new and vague “overemphasis on recruiting” test, it would have had “a profound impact on the state of the law and negatively impact[ed] operations of a sizeable portion of the United States economy.”

The Foley team representing Neora in this landmark victory was led by partners Edward Burbach, Craig Florence, and Michelle Ku and included of counsel John Sepehri, special counsel Robert Johnson, and associate Stephanie McPhail.

For more than a century, the U.S. Direct Selling Association (DSA) has served as the national trade association for companies that offer entrepreneurial opportunities to independent sellers to market and sell products and services, typically outside of a fixed retail establishment. DSA Award honorees were recognized at the DSA Engage: Technology + Operations Conference in Boise, Idaho on June 12, 2024.