The American Antitrust Institute (AAI) held its third annual Antitrust Enforcement Awards on Wednesday night, honoring litigation achievements in three categories.
A group of four firms awarded Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice for their work in O’Bannon v. NCAA. Michael Hausfeld and Hausfeld team, William Isaacson of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, Renae Steiner of Heins Mills & Olson, P.L.C., and Seth Rosenthal of Venable LLP were recognized for their case which demonstrated that injunctive relief can be just as powerful a tool as treble damages (if not more so) in enforcing the antitrust laws. The relief obtained by the plaintiffs, although narrowed on appeal, affirms the continuing vitality of the injunctive-relief provisions of the Clayton Act.
Finalists in the Private Law Practice category were Kelly M. Dermody and the Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP team with Joseph Saveri and the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, Inc. team to their work in In re High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation; Bill Markovits of Markovits, Stock & De Marco, LLC for his work in Collins Inkjet Corp. v. Eastman Kodak Co.; and Elizabeth C. Pritzker of Pritzker Levine LLP for her work on IL Fornaio (America) Corp. v. Lazzari Fuel Company, LLC et al.
Roger Noll received the award for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Economics for his work in O’Bannon v. NCAA. Professor Noll testified as the Plaintiffs’ economic expert and star witness in this landmark antitrust class action that challenged the NCAA’s age-old amateurism rules preventing student-athletes from being compensated for the use of their names, images, and likenesses.
Finalists in the Economics category were: Mark A. Israel and the Compass Lexecon team for their work in Federal Trade Commission et al. v. Sysco Corp. et al.; Russell Lamb of Nathan Associates Inc. for his work in In re Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litigation (indirect purchasers); and Jeffrey Leitzinger of Econ One Research Inc. for his work in In re Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litigation (direct purchasers).
Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement by a Young Lawyer was awarded to Michelle J. Looby of Gustafson Gluek PLLC for her work in Precision Associates, Inc. et al. v. Panalpina World Transport (Holding) Ltd., et al. Looby played a key role in representing a class of purchasers of freight forwarding services who alleged that defendant freight forwarders fixed prices on various fees and surcharges.
Finalists in the Young Lawyers category were: Lauren Capurro of Trump, Alioto, Trump & Prescott, LLP for her work in In re Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation; Dean Harvey of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP for his work in In re High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation; and Brian D. Penny of Goldman Scarlato & Penny, P.C. for his work in Allen et al v. Realcomp II Ltd., et al.
Qualified nominations had to be for antitrust-focused litigation that was (a) initiated in or appealed in any U.S. state or federal court and, (b) Resulted (whether or not subject to appeal) in a final judgment, verdict, dismissal, conviction, injunction, order, or settlement between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015. The award submission period ended on August 26. Visit antitrustinstitute.org/enforcement-awards for information about the 2016 Antitrust Enforcement Awards.
The judging committee is comprised of:
- Chair: Hollis Salzman, Robins Kaplan LLP
- Ellen S. Cooper, Office of the Attorney General of Maryland
- David DeRamus, Bates White Economic Consulting
- Harry First, New York University School of Law
- Kathleen E. Foote, California Department of Justice Antitrust Section
- Warren Grimes, Southwestern Law School
- Thomas Horton, South Dakota School of Law
- Roberta Liebenberg, Fine, Kaplan and Black, R.P.C.
- Ellen Meriwether, Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP
- Janet Netz, ApplEcon
- Christopher Sagers, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
- Cathy Smith, Gustafson Gluek PLLC
- Judith Zahid, Zelle, Hofmann, Voelbel & Gette LLP
- Richard O. Zerbe, University of Washington
About the American Antitrust Institute
The American Antitrust Institute is an independent Washington-based non-profit education, research, and advocacy organization. Our mission is to increase the role of competition, assure that competition works in the interests of consumers, and challenge abuses of concentrated economic power in the American and world economy. To learn more about the AAI, please visit www.antitrustinstitute.org.
