Gary M. Epstein retired from the partnership in December 2008. He was the former Chair of the Communications Practice Group and led the firm's Telecommunications Law Practice. His practice focused primarily on advising companies on United States regulations of telecommunications, satellite and broadcast providers. He also advised non-US governments and investors on privatizations and restructurings of telecom sectors and advised non-US and non-US-owned companies on such policies as US ownership restrictions and authorizations for international services.
Mr. Epstein was considered one of the leading communications lawyers in the United States. He was recognized by the 2008 Chambers & Partners Global Directory as a leading telecom, broadcast & satellite lawyer in the Washington, D.C. market. Also, the Chambers USA guide to leading lawyers consistently ranked him among the few “band one” lawyers in the area of Telecom, Broadcast & Satellite: Regulatory. In 2007, he was recognized as a leading communications attorney in the Washingtonian's 2007 “Top Lawyers” list and The Legal Times voted him one of the “Leading Lawyers” in communications law. The Legal Times selection was based on comments received from his clients and former colleagues at the FCC, including that Mr. Epstein is “one of the smartest, most versatile lawyers” the former chairman and general counsel of the FCC has ever seen, and that he “understands both the regulatory side and the transactional side of the business," is “very efficient with his time," “has excellent judgment” and is an “exceptionally gifted attorney.”
Mr. Epstein was Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission from 1981 to 1983. During his tenure as Common Carrier Bureau Chief, Mr. Epstein directed the development and implementation of key policies adopted by the FCC in such areas as market competition, access charges, cellular radio, satellite spacing and FCC international policies. Mr. Epstein also served as Chairman of the FCC's Industry Advisory Committee on Implementation of Reduced Orbital Spacing Between Domestic Fixed Satellites from 1984 to 1986, and was a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States during that time. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Epstein served as the Chairman of the FCC's Industry Advisory Committee for the 1995 World Radiocommunication Conference.