Our Curious Amalgam

Tom Zych of Cleveland, Ohio has taken on the big job of chairing the Antitrust Law Section for the 2022-23 ABA year. Who is the Section's new chair and what makes him tick? In this episode Alicia Downey and Matt Reynolds talk to Tom about what he'll focus on during his term and the legacy he hopes to leave behind. Listen to this episode to get to know Tom and, as a bonus, meet Mark Butscha, who wi...

A Denver jury recently acquitted defendants in the highly publicized third criminal trial involving allegations of price fixing in the chicken industry. What led to that not guilty verdict? Defense attorneys Rick Kornfeld and David Beller join Jaclyn Phillips and Christina Ma in a two-part series discussing the trials, strategy, and lessons learned. Listen to Part II today and hear Rick & David's...

A Denver jury recently acquitted defendants in the highly publicized third criminal trial involving allegations of price fixing in the chicken industry. What led to that not guilty verdict? Defense attorneys Rick Kornfeld and David Beller join Jaclyn Phillips and Christina Ma in a two-part series discussing the trials, strategy, and lessons learned. Listen to Part I today and hear all about the al...

In a time of increased uncertainty surrounding antitrust issues, Section 8 of the Clayton Act and private equity firms have recently become two topics of interest. What are the implications of recent comments from enforcers on these issues? Ken Schwartz, antitrust partner at Skadden, joins Christina Ma and Jaclyn Phillips to discuss the current landscape around Section 8 as an enforcement tool and...

The bases for the enhanced antitrust enforcement programs at the Antitrust Division have been discussed often but understood rarely. What are the key assumptions that are being challenged as part of the new antitrust regime? David Lawrence, Policy Director at the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, joins John Roberti, Anant Raut and Aaron Yeater to discuss four key assumptions that new enfor...

The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) may have been a familiar forum to parties in international trade to address disputes over intellectual property rights. But can the ITC also be an alternative adjudication body for private antitrust litigation? The Honorable F. Scott Kieff, Professor of Law at the George Washington Law School and former USITC commissioner speaks with Anora Wan...

There is a growing interest in understanding the "ownership interests hypothesis," i.e., whether investors holding interests in competing firms will soften firms' incentives to compete and generate anticompetitive effects. But what do the data show? Isabel Tecu, principal at Charles River Associates and co-author of a leading study on common ownership focusing on the airlines industry, discusses h...

The FTC's General Counsel (GC) is the agency's chief legal officer and adviser that provides counsel on various issues of law and policy and represents the agency in court. What are some of the most regular and important issues at the FTC's GC office? Prof. Alden Abbott, former FTC GC and current Senior Research Fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, speaks with John Roberti and Anor...

The Section Lunch at the Antitrust Law Section's Annual Spring Meeting in March 2022 featured a panel discussion with four trailblazing women leaders who have served as current or former competition agency chiefs in their countries. By popular demand, we are dedicating an episode of Our Curious Amalgam to each of these inspiring panelists. In this episode, hosts Alicia Downey and Jaclyn Phillips a...

Amidst the current momentum for antitrust reform, are U.S. lawmakers and enforcers thinking about the role of innovation in the right way? Aurelien Portuese, Director of the Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, joins Sergei Zaslavsky and Sarah Zhang to discuss the concept of dynamic efficiency and how antitrust should feature innovation...

The Section Lunch at the Antitrust Law Section's Annual Spring Meeting in March 2022 featured a panel discussion with four trailblazing women leaders who have served as current or former competition agency chiefs in their countries. By popular demand, we are dedicating an episode of Our Curious Amalgam to each of these inspiring panelists. In this episode, hosts Alicia Downey and Elyse Dorsey ask...

The Section Lunch at the Antitrust Law Section's Annual Spring Meeting in March 2022 featured a panel discussion with four trailblazing women leaders who have served as current or former competition agency chiefs in their countries. By popular demand, we are dedicating an episode of Our Curious Amalgam to each of these inspiring panelists. In this episode, hosts Alicia Downey and Anant Raut ask Ra...

The Section Lunch at the Antitrust Law Section's Annual Spring Meeting in March 2022 featured a panel discussion with four trailblazing women leaders who have served as current or former competition agency chiefs in their countries. By popular demand, we are dedicating an episode of Our Curious Amalgam to each of these inspiring panelists. In this episode, hosts Alicia Downey and Anora Wang ask fo...

Under the U.S. Supreme Court case FTC v. Actavis (2013), antitrust analysis of "reverse settlements" of IP litigations between makers of branded small molecule drugs and generics requires an analysis under the rule of reason. Are there distinct challenges presented by settlements between branded biologics and biosimilars? Sean Sheridan and Archan Ruparel, principals at Charles River Associates, sp...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission's current leadership has a vision for changing various aspects of antitrust laws through rulemaking. But can the FTC's rulemaking withstand administrative law challenges in federal court? Richard Pierce, renowned administrative law scholar and professor at The George Washington University, walks through the FTC's proposals and potential administrative law challeng...

In March 2022, the U.S. DOJ made headlines with the announcement it is considering bringing criminal monopolization cases under Section 2 of the Sherman Act for the first time in nearly fifty years. But is there any precedent that can help us understand what criminal prosecution of monopolization conduct would look like? Tiffany Rider and James Hunsberger of Axinn join John Roberti and Jaclyn Phil...

Labor market competition is one of the hottest issues in antitrust right now. Are workers being underpaid? Yes, says Treasury Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Neil Mehrotra, who joins Anant Raut and Alicia Downey to discuss the startling findings of Treasury's investigation into labor market competition. Listen to this episode to learn what we've misunderstood about labor market power, why wo...

Tumultuous political change, including the rise of populism, has been one of the key trends of the past decade. How do the shifting political winds affect antitrust, the largely technocratic domain some consider to be apolitical? University of Warsaw Professor Maciej Bernatt joins Christina Ma and Sergei Zaslavsky to discuss the interrelationship between rising autocracy and populism in Central Eu...

In recent years, efforts by state attorneys general to enforce the antitrust laws have been in the news far more than in the past, as state AGs have taken the lead in challenging no poach agreements and pursuing cutting edge theories in prosecutions of Big Tech companies. How and why are the states making competition an enforcement priority? In this episode, hosts Melissa Maxman and Alicia Downey...

The Spring Meeting brings together thousands of antitrust practitioners and enforcers and this year was no exception. What did the attendees have to say? Alicia Downey and Anora Wang speak with Advocate John Simpson, Tribunal Member of South Africa's National Consumer Tribunal, Brenda Gisela Hernández Ramírez, Acting Chair of COFECE (Mexico), and Ricardo Riesco, Head of Fiscalía Nacional Económica...

The Spring Meeting brings together thousands of antitrust practitioners and enforcers and this year was no exception. What did the attendees have to say? Anant Raut and Anora Wang speak with Olivier Guersent, Director General of Competition at the European Commission and Martin Coleman, Panel Chair and Panel Inquiry Chair of the UK Competition and Markets Authority, on their priorities for the yea...

Jury bias is an important issue that should be understood and considered by all trial teams, including for antitrust cases. How and when should antitrust attorneys begin to address issues of bias? Jury experts Christina Ouska and Johanna Hillard of JuryScope join John Roberti and Jaclyn Phillips to explain to us what we mean when we talk about jury bias, when trial teams should start thinking abou...

Justice Breyer will retire at the end of this SCOTUS term after nearly 28 years on the bench. How did Justice Breyer approach antitrust? Eric Citron, Partner at Goldstein & Russell and former clerk for Justices O'Connor and Kagan, joins Christina Ma and Jaclyn Phillips to talk about Justice Breyer's antitrust jurisprudence and what we might expect when a new Justice joins the Court. With special g...

Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was created to protect the personal data of individuals and to simplify the regulatory environment for data protection in Europe. As a regulatory scheme that has served as a model for other jurisdictions developing their own data protection and data privacy laws, is the GDPR living up to its intended purposes? Adam Penman of McGuireWoods London jo...

For decades the FTC relied on its adjudicatory authority, applying its expertise on a case-by-case basis in administrative litigation, but now, FTC leadership seems to be shifting away from litigation to "legislative-style" rulemaking. What does that mean in practical terms? In this episode, co-hosts Jana Seidl and Alicia Downey speak with Adam White, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Ins...