President, Precursor LLC and Chairman, NetCompetition.org
Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC
Susan Creighton is co-chair of the firm's antitrust practice. Susan's practice focuses on merger review, government conduct investigations, and antitrust litigation and counseling. Representative matters include serving as lead outside counsel for Google in the Federal Trade Commission's search investigation of the company, and representing Netflix in connection with the Justice Department's investigation of the proposed Comcast/TWC merger.
Susan was named "Lawyer of the Year" by Global Competition Review in 2013, and was one of The National Law Journal's "Outstanding Women Lawyers" in 2015. She has testified before the Antitrust Modernization Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Senate on antitrust-related issues. She also has written a number of widely cited articles, including on issues related to mergers, intellectual property, and unilateral conduct.
From 2003 through the end of 2005, Susan served at the Federal Trade Commission as Director of the Bureau of Competition. From 2001 to 2003, she served as Deputy Director of the Bureau. Prior to joining the FTC, Susan wrote the white paper for Netscape that is credited with triggering the Department of Justice's investigation and eventual suit against Microsoft for illegal monopolization.
Susan has served in a variety of leadership roles within the firm, including on the board of directors.
Prior to joining the firm, she was a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She also served as a law clerk to Federal District Judge Pamela Ann Rymer.
Vice President of Legal Services Outsourcing, CPA Global
President and Founder, International Center for Law & Economics
Geoffrey A. Manne is the president and founder of the International Center for Law and Economics (ICLE), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center based in Portland, Oregon. He is also a distinguished fellow at Northwestern Law School’s Searle Center on Law, Regulation, & Economic Growth. In April 2017 he was appointed by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, and he recently served for two years on the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee.
Mr. Manne earned his JD and AB degrees from the University of Chicago and is an expert in the economic analysis of law, specializing in competition, telecommunications, consumer protection, intellectual property, and technology policy.
Prior to founding ICLE, Manne was a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School. From 2006-2009, he took a leave from teaching to develop Microsoft’s law and economics academic outreach program. Manne has also served as a lecturer in law at the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law. He practiced antitrust law and appellate litigation at Latham & Watkins, clerked for Hon. Morris S. Arnold on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, and worked as a research assistant for Judge Richard Posner. He was also once (very briefly) employed by the FTC.
Mr. Manne’s publications have appeared in numerous journals including the Journal of Competition Law and Economics, the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, the Supreme Court Economic Review, and the Arizona Law Review, among others. With former FTC Commissioner, Joshua Wright, Manne is the editor of a volume from Cambridge University Press entitled, Competition Policy and Intellectual Property Law Under Uncertainty: Regulating Innovation. Manne has also testified on several occasions before Congress and at the FCC and FTC, and he regularly files written comments and amicus briefs on key antitrust, IP, and telecommunications issues. His analysis is frequently published in popular print and broadcasting outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Foreign Affairs, NPR, and Bloomberg, among others.
Manne is a member of the American Law and Economics Association, the Canadian Law and Economics Association, and the Society for Institutional & Organizational Economics. He blogs at Truth on the Market (www.truthonthemarket.com) (of which he is also the co-founder), is a contributor at WIRED, and tweets at @geoffmanne. His scholarly publications are available at http://ssrn.com/author=175541.
Partner, Rule Garza Howley LLP
Rick began his career in the 1980s in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, becoming the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Division from 1986-89 – the youngest person ever to be confirmed by the Senate to that position. Over the last 30+ years since leaving the Division, Rick has led the antitrust practices at several leading D.C. and New York firms including Covington & Burling and Paul, Weiss.
During his time in private practice, Rick has represented major multi-national companies and executives in virtually every industry – from, among others, agricultural and animal health (Monsanto, Elanco) to energy (ExxonMobil) to defense contractors (Northrop Grumman, United Technologies) to professional sports (NFL, NBA, MLB) to technology platforms (Microsoft, Nuance) to pharmaceutical manufacturers (Eli Lilly, Pfizer) to health insurers (Cigna). (For a complete list of industry experience, click here.)
Rick has represented his clients before the Antitrust Division, the Federal Trade Commission, State Attorneys General and major foreign antitrust regulators in connection with many of the most notable merger investigations, including Exxon’s merger with Mobil, US Airways’ merger with American Airlines, and Cigna’s acquisition of Express Scripts. At the same time, Rick has represented clients in some of most prominent government investigations of the last quarter century, including leading the team that settled the Government’s monopolization case against Microsoft and defending international companies and executives in major antitrust criminal investigations.
For four decades, Rick has been at the forefront of antitrust law and is uniquely capable of advising clients on the antitrust regulatory environment affecting the way they do business globally. As agencies and rules have evolved, he has helped clients to understand the dynamic legal framework, to assess the legal risk and rewards associated with a range of competitive strategies, and to work with government bodies to take advantage of, and ensure appropriate compliance with, the regulations governing the clients’ chosen strategy.
Is Google Monopolizing Something, and If So, What?
Scott Cleland, Susan Creighton, Montgomery N. Kosma, Geoffrey A. Manne, Charles "Rick" Rule
Corporations, Securities and Antitrust Practice Group
Last June, Christine Varney, then a lawyer in private practice, now President Obama's nominee to...