Features

Laura Edelson stepped down as the first chief technologist at the Department of Justice’s antitrust division last month. The New York University professor spoke to GCR USA about developing the new position and how that lack of expertise prevented the agency from taking action against Big Tech sooner.

21 August 2023

Governments across the world have recently increased their oversight of inbound foreign investment by businesses in “hostile” countries that want to gain a foothold in sensitive sectors of the economy. Ughi e Nunziante Studio Legale partner Filippo Mazza reflects on the Italian government’s use of its “golden power” law and considers if deals face greater scrutiny than before.

17 July 2023

Rahat Hassan stepped down as chair of the Competition Commission of Pakistan today after a three-year term. She spoke to GCR about struggling to enforce antitrust laws without a quorum of commissioners, issuing record cartel fines and the future growth of the agency.

13 July 2023

Margrethe Vestager’s second term as EU competition commissioner is due to expire at the end of next year. Following the recent announcement that the Danish government has put her forward as a candidate for the presidency of the European Investment Bank, White & Case partner Assimakis Komninos reflects on the key challenges facing her successor, including the fight against the politicisation of antitrust policy and the risk of fragmenting European enforcement.

12 July 2023

Mark Meador spent the past three years as counsel to the Senate’s top Republican on antitrust matters. The former Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice alum spoke to GCR USA about his move to antitrust boutique Kressin Meador, his time working for Senator Mike Lee, optimism about reform and the role of antitrust in tackling artificial intelligence.

03 July 2023

Šarūnas Keserauskas spent 12 years at the helm of Lithuania’s Competition Council before stepping down at the end of April. He spoke with GCR about how smaller authorities are better able to tackle novel antitrust issues, why the Lithuanian watchdog is prioritising labour markets and how he developed the agency into a sophisticated enforcer despite funding constraints.

02 June 2023

Stuart Hudson rejoined Brunswick Group at the end of March after spending four years at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority as senior director of its strategy, communications and advocacy team. He spoke to GCR about his time at the agency, what antitrust enforcers can learn from politicians and why a lack of good faith debate within the wider competition community needs to change.

26 May 2023

Baker & Miller co-founder Donald Baker recently teamed up with Antitrust Division attorney Mark Niefer in an article to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Telephone & Telegraph affair, which saw Congress pass the Tunney Act in 1974 after a columnist accused the Department of Justice of settling three cases against ITT in exchange for a $400,000 contribution towards the re-election of President Richard Nixon. GCR spoke to Baker – then an Antitrust Division staffer, but later the head of the agency – about political interference in antitrust enforcement and the parallels with today’s enforcers.

26 May 2023

The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal has put the brakes on the Competition and Markets Authority’s hopes of compelling information requests from companies with no territorial connection to the UK. White & Case partners James Killick and Marc Israel consider the options for companies now faced with information requests and ponder if the tribunal’s ruling will have any limiting effect on an increasingly proactive antitrust enforcer.

19 May 2023

Three members of The Law Society’s competition section are spearheading a push for greater ethnic diversity in the UK’s antitrust bar, recently organising a roundtable in partnership with the Competition and Markets Authority to discuss, promote and move forward the issue. In a conversation with GCR, Baker McKenzie partner Keith Jones, Ropes & Gray partner Ruchit Patel and Morgan Lewis & Bockius partner Omah Shah recap that meeting and explain how they – and the CMA – plan to go about achieving their mission.

12 May 2023