24th AAI Annual Policy Conference: Taking Stock of Antitrust’s Pro-Enforcement Movement
May 23, 2023
9:00 AM-
4:30 PM
National Press Club
Register
Free – $200.00
AAI will host its 24th Annual Policy Conference, Taking Stock of Antitrust’s Pro-Enforcement Movement, on May 23, 2023, at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. The Policy Conference will highlight a variety of themes in assessing the contours, substance, and progress of antitrust’s pro-enforcement movement. The Policy Conference aims to provide insight, analysis, and recommendations on key issues that are emerging in the pro-enforcement movement.
Three panels of competition experts will discuss: (1) challenges to more vigorous enforcement that are surfacing around agency strategy, guidance, and authority; (2) expanding the antitrust analytical toolkit by incorporating learning from disciplines outside law and economics; and (3) assessing opportunities and obstacles around private enforcement in the pro-enforcement era. The Policy Conference will appeal to a wide cross section of the competition community, including public and private enforcers, legislators and policymakers, sector regulators, public interest advocates, and academics.
National Press Club Holeman Lounge
529 14th Street NW, 13th Floor
Washington, DC 20045
CLE CREDITS:
This conference was approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board for 4.5 CLE credit hours. Attendees will be emailed CLE certificate of attendance after the conference.
A.B. Data
American Bar Association
Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition in Kazakhstan
Amazon
American Economic Liberties Project
American University Washington College of Law
AppleEcon
Berger Montague
Berkeley Research Group
Bloom Strategic Counsel PLLC
Bloomberg
BoiesBattin LLP
Center for Democracy & Technology
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
Colorado Attorney General
Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws
Constantine Cannon LLP
Cuneo Gilbert LaDuca, LLP
Don Resnikoff Law
Federal Trade Commission
Freed Kanner London & Miller LLC
George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Gustafson Gluek PLLC
Hausfeld
Huntington Bank
Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP
KCC
Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP
Microsoft Corporation
MoginRubin LLP
National Association of Attorneys General
National Grocers Association
National Institute for Trian Advocacy
New York State Attorney General
Postlethwaite & Netterville
Robins Kaplan LLP
Rust Consulting
Secretariat Economists
Spector Roseman & Kodroff
T-Mobile
Taus, Cebulash & Landau, LLP
The D.E. Shaw Group
U.S. Department of Justice
University of Maryland
Washington Center for Equitable Growth
Wayne State University
Widener University
Yale University School of Management
Yale University Tobin Center for Economic Policy
9:00 am
Welcome and Overview
Diana Moss, President, American Antitrust Institute
9:15 am
Panel 1: Challenges to More Vigorous Enforcement: Agency Strategy, Guidance, and Authority
The Biden antitrust enforcers have promised to step-up enforcement of the antitrust laws. It is too early to tell how case outcomes and policy initiatives at the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice will affect the longer-term contours of enforcement. But key issues have already emerged that may impact a more vigorous enforcement program. This expert panel will take up these issues. The panel will unpack the agencies’ strategies, shifts in the types and theories of cases brought, and win/loss records. Panelists will also discuss the implications of new agency merger guidance and the agencies’ decisions to withdraw certain guidance and policy statements. They will assess pushback against the agencies’ enforcement authority, including FTC rulemaking and limits on monetary remedies. Panelists will conclude with their take on the policy priorities most likely to lead to an effective and lasting invigoration of antitrust enforcement.
Moderator:
Kathleen Bradish, Vice President of Legal Advocacy, American Antitrust Institute
Panelists:
Markus Brazill, Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Heather Johnson, Director of Antitrust, T-Mobile
Jennifer Sturiale, Assistant Professor of Law, Delaware Law School, Widener University
10:45 am
Panel 2: Private Enforcement in a Pro-Enforcement Era: Obstacles and Opportunities
Private enforcement plays a critical role in the U.S. system of antitrust enforcement. Yet private enforcement faces ongoing hurdles, at a time when all prongs—public and private—are needed to invigorate antitrust enforcement in the U.S. This expert panel will discuss overcoming obstacles and identifying new opportunities for private enforcement. Panelists will identify and discuss both substantive and process issues. These include the pros and cons of government participation in private cases, leading class certification and procedural issues, and the rising costs of private litigation. They will also expand on areas where private enforcers have been particularly active, such as in labor cases and violations involving anticompetitive information sharing, which are high priority for public enforcers. This discussion will benefit all private and public enforcers seeking to strengthen antitrust enforcement overall.
Panelists:
Caitlin Coslett, Shareholder and Co-Chair of the Antitrust Department, Berger Montague
Dan Hedlund, Partner, Gustafson Gluek PLLC
Randy Stutz, Attorney Advisor, Office of Policy Planning, Federal Trade Commission
12:15 pm
Networking Break
12:45 pm
Luncheon and Award Presentations
Jerry S. Cohen Award for Antitrust Scholarship
AAI’s Alfred Kahn Award for Antitrust Achievement
Presented by Diana Moss
Acceptance and Keynote Address by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser
2:15 pm
Break
2:30 pm
Panel 3: Expanding the Antitrust Analytical Toolkit: Looking Beyond Law and Economics
Progressive antitrust looks to push the boundaries of a number of conventions that have limited the scope of antitrust analytics in the past. This includes, for example, considering adverse competitive effects in labor and other input markets, and the non-price dimensions of competition such as quality and innovation. But it also includes, among other issues, defining relevant markets in modern business “ecosystems” where cluster markets may be more appropriate. This expert panel will focus on the importance of expanding the antitrust analytical toolkit to tap into labor economics, behavioral economics, cloud technology and engineering, strategic management, and marketing. Panelists will offer examples where non-traditional academic disciplines have been, or should be, an integral part of antitrust case analysis. They will also discuss how practitioners and policymakers can incorporate these perspectives into competition enforcement and policy.
Moderator:
Diana Moss, President, American Antitrust Institute
Panelists:
Laura Edelson, Chief Technologist, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Fiona Scott-Morton, Theodore Nierenberg Professor of Economics, Yale School of Management
Evan Starr, Associate Professor, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland
