Congratulations to Gil Ohana who joined WilmerHale from Cisco Systems where he was director of antitrust and competition.  According to the press release:

Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. Ohana was a senior attorney at Hewlett-Packard Company in their antitrust department and, before that, also served as a trial attorney in the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice. During his time at Justice, he participated in government merger and non-merger investigations in computer software, computer hardware, interactive services and financial services. He was involved in some of the most high-profile public investigations and cases in the past fifteen years, including US v. Microsoft (monopolization), US v. Microsoft and Intuit (merger) and US v. Computer Associates (merger).

Technorati Tags: antitrust, Ohana, Cisco

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Congratulations to Thane D. Scott, former co-chair of the Antitrust Practice Group at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, who is joining the Boston office of Bingham McCutchen.  According to the press release:

Scott regularly defends business and consumer class actions involving antitrust and business tort claims, including class certification issues. He has served as lead or liaison counsel in numerous multi-district, complex or class-action cases, and he has represented major clients in government investigations.

He also litigates competitive intelligence and other cases involving business rivalry, including representing the plaintiff in a recent major federal case challenging a rival’s intrusions into the plaintiff’s management information system. In addition, Scott has served as lead defense counsel in more than 100 government investigations of mergers involving national and international companies.

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Here’s a short video of Dan Crane explaining the political backdrop of everyone’s favorite per se case Mobil Socony Vacuum.

Technorati Tags: antitrust, dan crane, cardozo

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Congratulations to Deborah A. Garza who has left Fried Frank (tough week for Fried Frank) for the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division in which she will serve as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Regulatory Matters.  According to the DOJ press release:

Most recently, Garza has chaired the Antitrust Modernization Commission (AMC), a bi-partisan panel created by Congress to evaluate the U.S. antitrust laws and make recommendations on U.S. antitrust law and policy. The AMC issued its report to the President and Congress on April 2, 2007. Since 2001, Garza has also been a partner in the antitrust practice of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP’s Washington, D.C. office. Prior to joining Fried Frank, in 1989, she practiced antitrust law at Covington & Burling. At both Fried Frank and Covington & Burling, Garza engaged in a wide range of antitrust counseling and litigation with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, including transactions in the transportation, energy, telecommunications, and high-tech industries. Garza previously served in the Antitrust Division as chief of staff and counselor from 1988 to 1989, and as a special assistant to the Assistant Attorney General from 1984 to 1985.

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Congratulations to Bruce McDonald who joins Jones, Day from the Department of Justice.  According to the press release (which, oddly, is not on the Jones Day website):

Mr. McDonald served as one of two DOJ deputies in charge of civil antitrust enforcement since 2003. Having begun his legal career at Jones Day in 1988, he practiced as an antitrust partner with Baker Botts L.L.P. in Houston before joining the government. … In 2005, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appointed him to the Electric Energy Competition Task Force. Mr. McDonald speaks and writes frequently on antitrust law and has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center.

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Congratulations to Charles “Rick” Rule who joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.  As Cadwalader lost its entire antitrust practice earlier this year to Skadden its recruitment of Rule is hardly unexpected.  Also, expect more dominos to fall.  Although the Cadwalader press release only mentions Rule, expect other attorneys from Fried Frank to join Cadwalader shortly.  According to the press release:

Mr. Rule joined Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in 2001, following his tenure as a partner at the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling where he was chairman of the firm’s antitrust and trade regulation practice group. Prior to private practice, he held various positions with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Justice Department, including serving as William Baxter’s special assistant and as acting head of the Division, before, in 1986, becoming the youngest person ever to be confirmed to the position of Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division.

The New York Law Journal has a short article on the move.

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Congratulations to Mark Botti who joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s Washington, D.C. office from the Department of Justice.  Almost exactly two weeks ago, Antitrust Review noted that DOJ was seeking candidates to fill his position and wondered if this meant he was leaving.  He has.  According to the Akin Gump press release:

During his 13 years of service at the Department of Justice, Mr. Botti served in a wide-range of litigation and policy positions within the Antitrust Division. As chief of the Litigation I Section, he litigated complex antitrust claims on behalf of the United States. He exercised jurisdiction over some of the most vital sectors of the economy, including health care, insurance and agriculture. Mr. Botti brought monopolization cases, horizontal conspiracy suits and merger challenges. His team tried the last successful merger case and the last successful monopolization case litigated to judgment by the Antitrust Division. In addition to appearing in court numerous times on behalf of the Department, he taught litigation skills internally and made many public presentations on antitrust litigation. Prior to heading the Litigation I Section, Mr. Botti served as assistant chief in the Litigation II Section and as a trial attorney in the Professions and Intellectual Property Section and in the Health Care Task Force.

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Congratulations to Lee A. Freeman, John F. Kinney, James T. Malysiak, Richard P. Campbell, Joseph P. Adamczyk and Joseph J. Bial who joined Jenner & Block yesterday.  They were previously at Freeman, Freeman & Salzman.  The Jenner & Block press release states:

Among the many accomplishments of the group are its successful representation of major corporations in suits to recover damages against foreign cartels for fixing the prices of vitamins and sorbates purchased in the United States and abroad. The firm also defended Forest Laboratories in the nationwide class action case In re Brand Name Prescription Drugs Antitrust Litigation, which alleged a conspiracy among pharmaceutical companies not to give retail druggists the same discounts offered to hospitals and managed care entities. …  Currently the group is involved in the prosecution of a complex antitrust action on behalf of Omnicare, Inc. against UnitedHealth Group, Inc., which is pending in the Northern District of Illinois.

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On Monday, the Wall Street Journal had a lengthy article on David Teece of LECG, Inc. (via catallaxy).  Two small excerpts:

For high-profile economists like the 58-year-old Prof. Teece, expert testimony has become a way to earn $2 million or more a year. Their rise has its roots in the Reagan era of the 1980s, when a free-market view of the law inspired by University of Chicago scholars gained ground. Courts now rely far more on economic analysis, with its apparent precision, to reach decisions. As a result, big companies in legal disputes race to enlist top economists on their side, paying top dollar in an arms race for talent.

…

Antitrust cases have been a particular boon for economists. Traditionally, trust-busters focused on blatantly illegal behavior, such as price-fixing, leaving little leeway for an economist’s interpretation once the facts were established, observes Howard University law professor Andrew Gavil. More recent cases, such as the one against Microsoft Corp. in the late 1990s, have involved tricky calculations of how much consumers might be damaged by a company’s market domination.

The entire article is worth reading.

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Congratulations to Samuel R. Miller who joined Sidley Austin’s San Francisco office.  Miller chaired the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Litigation Committee from 1992 to 1995.  According to the press release, he is also “an adjunct faculty member at Boalt Hall, teaching a seminar on antitrust in high-technology markets.”

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Ann DeVos over at Wyeth writes that they are looking for a senior attorney/counsel antitrust in Madison, NJ.

Primary objective will be to serve as legal advisor and counselor on a broad range of antitrust issues in the pharmaceutical, consumer health and animal health divisions, both in the United States and internationally. Employee will work closely with the Chief Counsel, Antitrust to serve the broad range of Wyeth’s global antitrust needs.

The job posting is here. Or contact Ann at devosa(at)wyeth.com. If you take the position, please remember the beer rule.

[Update by DF: You can also apply for the position online.]

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Congratulations to Linda P. Nussbaum and Susan R. Schwaiger who are joining Kaplan Fox from Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll.  As noted in the press release:

Ms. Nussbaum practices antitrust law, with a specialty in pharmaceutical antitrust litigation. In the past 5 years alone, Ms. Nussbaum has served as lead counsel in antitrust litigations that have yielded hundreds of millions of dollars in recovery for her clients and the classes she represents, including, In re Microcrystalline Cellulose Antitrust Litigation; In re Relafen Antitrust Litigation; In re Taxol Antitrust Litigation; In re Platinol Antitrust Litigation; In re Remeron Antitrust Litigation; In re Children’s Ibuprofen Oral Suspension Antitrust Litigation; and In re Lorazepam & Clorazepate Antitrust Litigation. She is also presently serving as lead counsel in a number of significant antitrust class actions. Ms. Nussbaum is a frequent lecturer on complex antitrust issues and will be a third time panelist at the upcoming spring meeting of the Antitrust Law section of the American Bar Association.

Congratulations to both of them.

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Congratulations to Howard Rosenblatt and Bruno Lebrun who joined Latham & Watkins‘ Brussels’ office.  Both had been partners at Howrey LLP.  According to the press release:

Rosenblatt joined Howrey LLP in its Washington, D.C. office in 1993, moving to its Brussels office in 2004. Prior to this, he worked for Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. … Rosenblatt is listed in Global Competition Review’s Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers and the Chambers Global Guide names him as one of Brussels’ leading competition lawyers. Lebrun joined Howrey LLP in 2002, and was elected as a partner in 2004. Before joining Howrey, Lebrun practiced in Paris for three years, and then in Brussels with Freshfields and Norton Rose. … He is listed as a leading individual in the Brussels competition bar in the Chambers Global Guide.

The Lawyer.com also has a brief report on this move.

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It is job opening week at Antitrust Review!  The Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice is looking for a “Competition Advocacy Specialist.”  According to the government’s website:

In addition to these traditional law-enforcement roles, the Division also engages in “competition advocacy” through presentations to and communications with other federal agencies, Congress, state legislatures and other governmental entities. Such advocacy may, for example, explain to a government entity why a proposed law or regulation designed purportedly to help consumers might in fact harm competition and thereby harm consumers. The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice is seeking a highly motivated and dynamic individual to help develop and implement a comprehensive plan for advocating for policies that further and protect market competition. The individual must have strong leadership, communications and writing experience. The individual may be expected to make presentations to large groups on competition-related issues; to explain, defend and present agency positions on important antitrust programs; to formulate and execute strategic plans; and to develop graphic presentations.

The position pays between $93,822 and $143,471 and ”is a competitive TERM position not to exceed 2 Years, which may be renewable up to a total of four years as determined by the agency, subject to a one year trial period.”  As before, if you take the job after reading about it here, you owe us a (good, imported) beer.

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