Geoffery Oliver, William F. Dolan, Paula W. Render, Michael Sennett and Pamela L. Taylor are joining Jones Day.  Mr. Oliver is the former head of the Anticompetitive Practices Division of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition and will be in Jones Day’s Washington Office.   William F. Dolan, Paula W. Render, Michael Sennett and Pamela L. Taylor are leaving Bell, Boyd & Lloyd and will be in Jones Day’s Chicago office.  More details are in the Jones Day press release.

The New York Antitrust Bureau is looking to fill its Director of Economics position, as well as an attorney staff-level position. Here are the postings:

Director of Economics at the New York State Office of the Attorney General (Position located in New York City): The New York State Attorney General’s Office is interviewing to hire a Director of Economics to assist in investigations, litigation and the development of policy on behalf of the State’s citizens. The position offers a unique opportunity to work on applied economic projects with an elite group of law enforcement and policy practitioners at one of the most creative and dynamic public agencies in the country. In view of the Antitrust Bureau’s ongoing need for economic advice, the position is part of that Bureau. However, the Director of Economics will work on projects with other parts of the Attorney General’s Office. An ideal candidate will have a Ph.D in economics or finance, and experience using one or more statistical applications. Yearly compensation is $85,000 to $100,000, commensurate with qualifications and experience. Please submit a cover letter including your resume/cv and references to jay.himes@oag.state.ny.us, or contact New York State Office of the Attorney General, Division of Legal Recruiting, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

Antitrust Bureau Attorney Position at the New York State Office of the Attorney General (Position located in New York City): 2+ years antitrust/litigation experience. Applicants should have strong investigative, writing, analytic, research and communications skills, as well as experience in antitrust or other complex itigation. Commitment to public service is essential. The New ork Antitrust Bureau handles criminal and civil matters involving price-fixing, bid-rigging, and vertical restraints of trade, monopolization, and mergers under both federal and New York state law. The Bureau works closely with other State antitrust enforcers on matters of national impact, and with the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. Bureau members can be expected to participate in all phases of antitrust matters, from investigation to case filing, discovery, motion practice, trial and appeal, and settlement. Salary commensurate with qualifications and xperience. Please submit a cover letter including your resume/cv nd references to jay.himes@oag.state.ny.us, or contact New York State Office of the Attorney General, Division of Legal Recruiting, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

The beer rule applies—if you take the job, you owe us a beer.

It is, I think, possible to be both a good economist and a conservative, a liberal, perhaps even, for some senses of the term, a socialist. But it is impossible, or at least very difficult, to be a good economist and an orthodox conservative, liberal, or socialist. There are simply too many political positions incorporated in each ideology that depend for their force on bad economics.

Alan brought Andrea back to his apartment after their first date in 1984 by promising to show her an essay he had written on the Sherman Act.

Technorati Tags: antitrust

Congratulations to Alicia J. Batts who joined Proskauer Rose from Dickstein Shapiro.  According to the press release:

Ms. Batts joins Proskauer from Dickstein Shapiro LLP, where she was a partner. She also worked as an antitrust advisor to Federal Trade Commissioner Mozelle Thompson, for whom she reviewed antitrust actions before the FTC and made recommendations on enforcement and policy matters before the Federal Antitrust Agency.

Congratulations to Michael Katz, former DoJ chief economist, who has just joined Competition Policy Associates (COMPASS). From the announcement:

Dr. Katz is a Professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He previously served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Chief Economist at the Federal Communications Commission. Dr. Katz has served as an economic expert in a wide range of high-profile litigation and regulatory proceedings, with a focus in the telecommunications and electronic payments industries. For example, Dr. Katz served as the primary expert for the U.S. Department of Justice in United States v. Visa USA, Inc. With the addition of Dr. Katz, the COMPASS team of experts now includes five former chief economists at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division: Dr. Katz, Bobby Willig, Janusz Ordover, Dan Rubinfeld, and Richard Gilbert.

Congratulations to Alfred C. Pfeiffer, Jr.,  who joined the San Francisco office of Latham & Watkins from Bingham McCutchen.  According to the press release:

Pfeiffer is an accomplished antitrust litigator with extensive experience in civil antitrust cases, civil and criminal government antitrust investigations, and other competition-related commercial cases. He practices across numerous industries and has been particularly active in the telecommunications and information technologies arenas. Pfeiffer also advises companies regarding the antitrust aspects of acquisitions, joint ventures and distribution agreements.

Earlier this week, I posted about several antitrust attornyes, including five from Fried Frank, who joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.  Their move was triggered by the move of the previous antitrust group to Skadden and Cadwalader’s subsequent hiring of Charles “Rick” Rule from Friend Frank.  At that time, Fried Frank also lost Deborah Graza to DOJ.  Since then, I have not seen any news about antitrust attorneys going to Fried Frank.  And its website lists only seven antitrust attorneys, all of whom joined Fried Frank more than a year ago.

If you have any news about Fried Frank’s antitrust practice, please let us know.  Leave a comment or email us (which you can also do anonymously).

Congratulations to the winners!

The COMPASS Prize is awarded to published or forthcoming papers in a peer-reviewed journal that, in the opinion of the selection committee, make the most significant contributions to the understanding and implementation of competition policy. The 2007 co-winners, who will share $20,000, are:

• Mark Armstrong of University College London for his paper, published in the RAND Journal of Economics, entitled “Competition in Two-Sided Markets.”
• IgalHendel and Aviv Nevoof Northwestern University for their paper, published in Econometrica, entitled “Measuring the Implications of Sales and Consumer Inventory Behavior.”

The COMPASS Prize in the amount of $5,000 is awarded to the paper written by a Ph.D. candidate that makes the most significant contribution to the understanding and implementation of competition policy. The winner of this year’s Ph.D. award is:

• Nathan Miller of the University of California at Berkeley for his paper, “Can Strategic Leniency Fight Organized Crime? Empirical Evidence from Cartel Enforcement.”

In the big game of musical chairs, early this year virtually the entire antitrust group at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft moved to Skadden Arps.   In April, Cadwalader hired Charles “Rick” Rule from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.  Cadwalader continued to add to its antitrust group following its hire of Mr. Rule.  In May, Jonathan S. Kanter and Anthony V. Nanni joined Cadwalader as special counsel from Fried Frank.  Also moving from Fried Frank were associates Andrew J. Forman, Ngoc Pham Hulbig and Christian J. Lorenz.  Shortly thereafter, Joseph J. Bial - who had moved to Jenner & Block earlier this year - joined Cadwalader as an associate.

Congratulations to Michael H. Knight who joined Cooley Godward from the FTC.  According to the press release:

He will be based in the Washington, DC office.  Knight joins Cooley from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where he was the Assistant Director of the Mergers II Division of the Bureau of Competition.  The Mergers II Division is a 25-attorney unit responsible for investigating and prosecuting cases under federal antitrust laws, with a focus on, among other areas, technology matters.  As the Assistant Director in charge of the unit, Knight managed staff investigations and the litigation of merger and civil non-merger matters. Knight also oversaw consent decree negotiations and implementations.  At Cooley, Knight will focus on expanding the Firm’s antitrust practice on the East Coast. 

Congratulations to Joyce L. Bartoo who joined Winston & Strawn from the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  According to the press release:

For the past 13 years, Bartoo served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division where she specialized in mergers and acquisitions and leading investigations of alleged monopolization and collusion in industries such as entertainment and publishing, telecommunications, e-commerce, computers, computerized services and finance. 

Congratulations to William B. Slowey, until recently the Corporate Antitrust Counsel for General Motors Corporation who joined Butzel Long.  According to the press release:

Mr. Slowey served 35 years in various positions at General Motors (GM) Corporation, including the last 18 as Corporate Antitrust Counsel. His legal work is extensive and spans a variety of industries and market segments, including defense, locomotive, electronic, communication, earth-moving equipment, heavy-duty transmission, heavy-duty bus and truck, as well as automotive parts and vehicles. … Mr. Slowey served the United States Department of Justice as a Trial Attorney in the Antitrust Division from 1968-1971.

Congratulations to David T. Fischer who joined Shook Hardy & Bacon last week.  I’d say more but this is more than enough shameless self-promotion for me.

Congratulations to Jesse Markham Jr., who has left Morrison & Foerster (where he was co-chair of antitrust group) for Holme Roberts & Owen.  The press release is available here and The Recorder has a good article about this move online too.