The American Antitrust Institute (AAI) is pleased to announce that it has awarded Public Service Fellowships to Tom Dahdouh, Michael Swerdlow, and Trevor Young, the first such awards under AAI’s new Public Service Fellowship Program. Dahdouh recently served at the Federal Trade Commission, Swerdlow recently was accepted to the Attorney General’s Honors Program at the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, and Young recently served at the Antitrust Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
“We are delighted to welcome Tom, Michael, and Trevor,” said AAI President Randy Stutz. “Each is emblematic of the talented public servants we had in mind when we created this program.”
The AAI Public Service Fellowship Program provides an opportunity for antitrust lawyers, economists, and other competition experts who have recently left government service to continue protecting and promoting competition. Fellows selected by a Fellowship Committee work on approved public interest research, writing, or other projects that encourage vigorous competition, improve the administration of the antitrust laws, or otherwise advance AAI’s mission. Fellows receive guidance from volunteer experts who are members of the AAI Advisory Board.
Tom Dahdouh was an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for 33 years. From 2021-2024, he served as an Attorney Advisor to FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. From 2013-2021, he was the Regional Director of the Western Region, overseeing and managing investigations and litigations in the FTC’s San Francisco and Los Angeles offices. Before holding those positions, he served as an Attorney Advisor to two other FTC Commissioners in the 1990’s and as a staff attorney in the Western Region. In 2024, he received the FTC’s Robert L. Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award. The California Lawyers Association’s Antitrust and Consumer Protection Section recently named him “California Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” for 2025.
Research Project: The Future of the FTC if Humphrey’s Executor is Overruled
Fellowship Advisor: Stephen Calkins, Professor of Law, Wayne State University Law School
Michael Swerdlow is a former Summer Law Clerk at the FTC, Intern at the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department (DOJ), and Antimonopoly Director of the Democracy Policy Network. In these roles he has assisted with various federal antitrust investigations and advised policymakers on antitrust reform at the state and federal level. He has also made significant contributions to the literature on labor antitrust, co-authoring a piece on merger remedies in labor markets and authoring an article on antitrust standards for unilateral conduct in labor markets. Prior to the government-wide hiring freeze implemented in January 2025, he was admitted to the prestigious DOJ Attorney General’s Honors Program.
Research Project: Resurrecting Section 3 of the Clayton Act
Fellowship Advisor: John Newman, Herbert Herff Chair of Excellence, University of Memphis School of Law
Trevor Young has over a decade of experience with antitrust litigation and complex enforcement matters. He most recently served as Deputy Division Chief of the Antitrust Division at the Texas Office of the Attorney General, where he was at the forefront of some of the nation’s most significant antitrust actions, including antitrust and consumer protection litigation against Google for monopolization and deceptive trade practices in digital advertising. Trevor has experience leading large multistate actions and helped draft legislation in Texas that increased civil penalty amounts for antitrust violations.
Research Project: State Antitrust Modernization Project
Fellowship Advisor: Andrew I. Gavil, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law
AAI actively seeks Fellowship applicants to work on approved public interest research, writing, or other projects. Eligible fellowship applicants must be lawyers, economists or other competition experts who left a government agency within the last year. Included among the eligible applicants are former probationary federal employees and entry-level attorneys whose offers from the DOJ or FTC Honors Programs were rescinded. For more information and to apply, visit us at AAI Public Service Fellowship.
