Kathryn E. Balmford, Attorney

Ms. Balmford is an Associate at Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz PC.  Ms. Balmford's food and drug practice focuses on counseling clients on dietary supplement, food, medical device, over-the-counter drug and cosmetic issues.  She has assisted clients with the preparation and filing of health claim petitions and new dietary ingredient notifications with FDA, including several successful qualified health claim petitions.  She has particular expertise in the areas of food and supplement labeling, resolution of import/export issues, and OTC drug and cosmetic formulation and labeling questions.

Ms. Balmford's representation of dietary supplement companies has included work on two separate federal court cases involving First Amendment commercial speech.  Both cases challenged FDA's prohibition of constitutionally protected speech in the labeling of dietary supplement products.  Specifically, the first case dealt with FDA's refusal to allow truthful and nonmisleading speech in the form of health claims to appear on the labels of dietary supplements, and the second case dealt with FDA's policy of prohibiting dietary supplement companies from distributing independent scientific literature to consumers under DSHEA's third-party literature exemption.

Ms. Balmford also advises clients on federal advertising regulations.  Ms. Balmford reviews product advertising to ensure compliance with both FDA and FTC regulations.  She assists clients in responding to inquiries of deceptive advertising from the FTC and the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (NAD), including a recent successful NAD inquiry concerning the advertising of a dietary supplement product.

Companies marketing FDA-regulated products often encounter issues as they attempt to import their finished product or ingredients into the United States.  Ms. Balmford assists companies with navigating the complex and overlapping requirements of FDA and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which both have roles in the admission of FDA-regulated products into the country.  She routinely works with FDA and CBP District Offices to gain expeditious entry of compliant products.

Ms. Balmford was born in Youngstown, Ohio and was graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Politics-Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh in 1999.  Ms. Balmford received her J.D. in 2002 from The George Washington University Law School.  She is a member of the Virginia State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.

Areas of Practice:

Food and Drug Law
Medical Device Law
Advertising Law
Constitutional and Administrative Litigation

Bar Admissions:

Virginia, 2002
District of Columbia, 2003

Education:

The George Washington University Law School, Washington, District of Columbia, 2002
Juris Doctor

University of Pittsburgh, 1999
Bachelor of Arts
Honors: Magna Cum Laude

Court Admissions:

Supreme Court of the United States, 2007
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, 2005
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 2004
United States District Court for the District of Columbia, 2002
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 2005

Professional Associations and Memberships:

District of Columbia Bar Association
Virginia Bar Association