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Mercatus Center’s 2nd Annual Antitrust Forum: Policy in Transition
Van Metre Hall Auditorium, GMU-Arlington Campus
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Download the Forum Summary Brief PDF Here
The Mercatus Antitrust Forum will bring together leaders from the antitrust community to discuss the state of antitrust enforcement policy, here and abroad, during the second year of the Biden Administration. The Conference will feature presentations by former and current leaders of the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department Antitrust Division, who will put into perspective the legal and economic policy ramifications of major enforcement, legislative, and policy initiatives in the antitrust space during 2022. Speakers will be leaders of the antitrust bar with diverse political perspectives who have contributed and will continue to contribute substantially to scholarship in this important area.
Agenda
8:45 - 9:00 am: Opening Remarks
- Alden Abbott, Conference Host and Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University
- Donald J. Boudreaux, Senior Fellow, F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Welcoming Remarks & Introduction of Speaker
- James Cooper, Professor of Law and Director, Program on Economics & Privacy, Antonin Scalia Law School
9:00 - 9:50 am: Keynote | FTC Policymaking, William Kovacic
- William Kovacic, Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy; Director, Competition Law Center at George Washington University
Reading Assignments:
- Kovacic, William. "Root and Branch Reconstruction: The Modern Transformation of U.S. Antitrust Law and Policy?" Antitrust Magazine Volume 35 No. 3 - Summer 2021
- Kovacic, William. "The Future Adaptation of the Per Se Rule of Illegality in U.S. Antitrust Law." Columbia Business Law Review Volume No. 1, 2021
9:50 - 10:45 am: Keynote | A Refresh for Antitrust Enforcement, Diana Moss
- Diana Moss, President, American Antitrust Institute
Reading Assignment:
- Moss, Diana. "From Competition to Conspiracy: Assessing the Federal Trade Commission’s Merger Policy in the Pharmaceutical Sector." American Antitrust Institute, September 3, 2022.
- Moss, Diana. "Modernizing Competition Policy and Law: The Impact of Marketing Developments on the Legal Treatment of Price Maintenance in the United States, the European Union, and China." Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, April 6, 2022.
- Moss, Diana. "Comments of the AAI in response to the FTC and DOJ RFI on Merger Enforcement." American Antitrust Institute, April 21, 2022.
10:45 - 11:00 am: Break
11:00 am - 12:00 pm: International Developments Panel: Updates from Abroad
Moderator:
- Douglas Ginsburg, Senior Circuit Judge, Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School
Speakers:
- James Rill, Senior Counsel, Baker Botts. Former Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
- Fiona Schaeffer, Partner, Millbank
- Bilal Sayyed, Senior Competition Counsel, TechFreedom. Former Director of the Office of Policy Planning, Federal Trade Commission
- Aurelien Portuese, Director, Antitrust and Innovation Policy, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Reading Assignments:
- Portuese, Aurelien. "The Digital Markets Act: A Triumph of Regulation Over Innovation." Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, August 2022.
- Wong-Ervin, Koren. "Extraterritoriality: Approaches Around the World and Model Analysis."Concurrences, 2021.
- Sayyed, Bilal. "Comments of TechFreedom in response to the FTC and DOJ RFI on Merger Enforcement."TechFreedom, April 21, 2021.
12:00 - 12:30 pm: Break
12:30 - 1:30 pm: Fireside Chat | The Future of the FTC, Christine Wilson
- Alden Abbott, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center
- Christine Wilson, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Reading Assignments:
- Wilson, Christine. "Marxism and Critical Legal Studies Walk into the FTC: Deconstructing the Worldview of the Neo-Brandeisians." Federal Trade Commission, April 8, 2022.
- Wilson, Christine. "An Update on FTC Merger Enforcement." Federal Trade Commission, June 15, 2022.
1:30 - 1:45 pm: Break
1:45 - 3:00 pm: Panel | FTC: Rulemaking, Guidelines, and More
Moderator:
- Svetlana Gans, Partner, Gibson Dunn
Speakers:
- William Blumenthal, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP
- Koren Wong-Ervin, Antitrust Partner at Axinn, Veltrop, & Harkrider LLP
- Barry Nigro, Partner and Chair of Global Competition Department, Fried Frank
- Taylor Owings, Partner, Baker Botts, and former Chief of Staff, Department of Justice Antitrust Division
Reading Assignments:
- Ginsburg, Douglas; Wong-Erving, Koren. "Challenging Consummated Mergers Under Section 2." Competition Policy International, May 2020.
- Hoffman, Bruce; Shinn, Garrett. "Self-Preferencing and Antitrust: Harmful Solutions for an Improbable Problem." Competition Policy International, June 15, 2021.
- Ohlhausen, Maureen; Rossen, Ben. "Dead End Road: National Petroleum Refiners Association and FTC “Unfair Methods of Competition” Rulemaking." Baker Botts LLP, April 18, 2022.
3:00 - 4:00 pm: Panel | DOJ: Is Enforcement Policy Really Being Transformed?
Moderator:
- Suzanne Munck, Counsel, Davis Polk (Antitrust & Competition)
Speakers:
- Juan Artega, Partner, Crowell & Moring, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division
- Thomas Barnett, Partner and co-chair Antitrust & Competition Law Practice Group, Covington
- Andrew Finch, Co-chair, Antitrust Practice Group, Paul Weiss
- Eric Grannon, Partner, White & Case
Reading Assignments:
- Shelanski, Howard. "Judicial Response to the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines." Review of Industrial Organization, November 23, 2020.
- Arteaga, Juan. "Enforcement of Merger Consent Decrees." Global Competition Review, November 8, 2021.
4:00 - 4:45 pm: Government Representative Presentation
Speaker:
- Doha Mekki, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, Antitrust Section