Global Competition Counsel, BHP Group
Kirstie is Global Competition Counsel at BHP. Based in Singapore, Kirstie is responsible for the group’s competition law compliance framework and leads the BHP competition law team advising advises clients located across the BHP group on the full range of competition law matters, including merger control, investigations and day to day counselling. Before joining BHP, Kirstie spent over a decade in private practice as a competition law specialist with international law firms in London, Brussels, Shanghai and Singapore, and was among the first European competition lawyers to relocate to China to assist clients with aspects of the developing competition laws in Asia. Her practice has covered all aspects of competition law, including cartels, dominance, mergers and appeals to the European Courts. Kirstie was also a founding partner of Landmark Asia in Singapore, a boutique public affairs consultancy assisting clients with regulation and policy throughout the APAC region.
Former Senior Director, Antitrust & Competition, Cisco
Gil Ohana is former Senior Director, Antitrust and Competition for Cisco, the leading manufacturer of networking equipment for the Internet. Gil writes and speaks regularly on antitrust and intellectual property issues relating to standard-essential patents in the areas of wired and wireless networking and communications. He has participated indiscussions of standards development organization IPR policies at leading standards development organizations such as ANSI, ETSI, IEEE-SA, ITU-T, IETF, and OneM2m, and has advised on the formation and operation of numerous informal standards development organizations active in IoT and patent pools.
From 1993 through 1996, Gil was a trial attorney with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he participated in the Division's investigation of Microsoft's software licensing practices and its successful court challenge to Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Intuit.
Gil received his law degree from Columbia University, where he was articles editor of the Columbia Law Review, and his B.A. from Harvard College. He is admitted to the bars of California and the District of Columbia.
Senior Counsel for International Competition Affairs, Deutsche Telekom AG
Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Christopher M. Wilson is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice Group.
Mr. Wilson assists clients in navigating DOJ, FTC, and international competition authority investigations as well as private party litigation involving complex antitrust and consumer protection issues, including matters implicating the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act, the FTC Act, the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) merger review process, as well as international and state competition statutes. His experience crosses multiple industries, including health insurance, transportation, telecommunications, technology, energy, agriculture, and biotechnology, and his particular areas of focus include merger enforcement, interlocking directorates, joint ventures, compliance programs, and employee “no-poach” agreements. He is also well-versed in cross-border investigations involving the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Korea, and Saudi Arabia, among other jurisdictions.
Mr. Wilson is also active in the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association, serving as Vice Chair of the Transportation & Energy Industries Committee. He is also a member of the Section’s Health Care and Pharmaceuticals Committee, and is a frequent participant in ABA webcasts and presentations.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Wilson was a trial attorney in the Transportation, Energy & Agriculture Section of the U.S. Department of Justice – Antitrust Division. During his tenure, Mr. Wilson played a prominent role in numerous high-profile matters, and he received the Antitrust Division’s Award of Distinction on two separate occasions. Before joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Wilson was an associate in Gibson Dunn’s Dallas office.
He is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, and was an editor on the Columbia Business Law Review. He holds a B.A. in Economics from New York University.
Mr. Wilson is admitted to practice in California, Texas, and the District of Columbia.
Global Competition Counsel, BHP Group
Kirstie is Global Competition Counsel at BHP. Based in Singapore, Kirstie is responsible for the group’s competition law compliance framework and leads the BHP competition law team advising advises clients located across the BHP group on the full range of competition law matters, including merger control, investigations and day to day counselling. Before joining BHP, Kirstie spent over a decade in private practice as a competition law specialist with international law firms in London, Brussels, Shanghai and Singapore, and was among the first European competition lawyers to relocate to China to assist clients with aspects of the developing competition laws in Asia. Her practice has covered all aspects of competition law, including cartels, dominance, mergers and appeals to the European Courts. Kirstie was also a founding partner of Landmark Asia in Singapore, a boutique public affairs consultancy assisting clients with regulation and policy throughout the APAC region.
Former Senior Director, Antitrust & Competition, Cisco
Gil Ohana is former Senior Director, Antitrust and Competition for Cisco, the leading manufacturer of networking equipment for the Internet. Gil writes and speaks regularly on antitrust and intellectual property issues relating to standard-essential patents in the areas of wired and wireless networking and communications. He has participated indiscussions of standards development organization IPR policies at leading standards development organizations such as ANSI, ETSI, IEEE-SA, ITU-T, IETF, and OneM2m, and has advised on the formation and operation of numerous informal standards development organizations active in IoT and patent pools.
From 1993 through 1996, Gil was a trial attorney with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he participated in the Division's investigation of Microsoft's software licensing practices and its successful court challenge to Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Intuit.
Gil received his law degree from Columbia University, where he was articles editor of the Columbia Law Review, and his B.A. from Harvard College. He is admitted to the bars of California and the District of Columbia.
Senior Counsel for International Competition Affairs, Deutsche Telekom AG
Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Christopher M. Wilson is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice Group.
Mr. Wilson assists clients in navigating DOJ, FTC, and international competition authority investigations as well as private party litigation involving complex antitrust and consumer protection issues, including matters implicating the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act, the FTC Act, the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) merger review process, as well as international and state competition statutes. His experience crosses multiple industries, including health insurance, transportation, telecommunications, technology, energy, agriculture, and biotechnology, and his particular areas of focus include merger enforcement, interlocking directorates, joint ventures, compliance programs, and employee “no-poach” agreements. He is also well-versed in cross-border investigations involving the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Korea, and Saudi Arabia, among other jurisdictions.
Mr. Wilson is also active in the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association, serving as Vice Chair of the Transportation & Energy Industries Committee. He is also a member of the Section’s Health Care and Pharmaceuticals Committee, and is a frequent participant in ABA webcasts and presentations.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Wilson was a trial attorney in the Transportation, Energy & Agriculture Section of the U.S. Department of Justice – Antitrust Division. During his tenure, Mr. Wilson played a prominent role in numerous high-profile matters, and he received the Antitrust Division’s Award of Distinction on two separate occasions. Before joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Wilson was an associate in Gibson Dunn’s Dallas office.
He is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, and was an editor on the Columbia Business Law Review. He holds a B.A. in Economics from New York University.
Mr. Wilson is admitted to practice in California, Texas, and the District of Columbia.
Partner, Cooley
Rob McDowell advises telecommunications, media and technology clients on their most significant regulatory, legal and business matters. As a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and a highly regarded industry leader, Rob has been at the forefront of the most complex and groundbreaking issues facing telecommunications.
Mr. McDowell was first appointed to the FCC by President George W. Bush in 2006 and again by President Obama in 2009. He was unanimously confirmed both times by the US Senate. During his tenure, Mr. McDowell led efforts to expand consumer access to spectrum through his work on the two largest wireless auctions in US history at the time, played a key role in the 2009 digital television transition and led efforts to establish the first federal civil rights rule in a generation by creating a ban on racially discriminatory practices in broadcast advertising. He also worked extensively on several large and complex mergers, including Sirius/XM and Comcast/NBC-Universal.
He is an advocate for internet freedom, serving on the US delegation to the 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications and exposing an international bid to regulate vital aspects of the Internet through multilateral treaty-based organizations. Mr. McDowell authored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal opposing multilateral internet regulation that led to a resolution passed unanimously in the House and Senate, as well as the ultimate defeat of the international bid at a treaty negation in Dubai later that year.
Prior to the FCC, Mr. McDowell was senior vice president for CompTel, the Competitive Telecommunications Association, where he led advocacy efforts before several government agencies, the White House and Congress.
Mr. McDowell is often called upon for speaking engagements and frequently appears on TV and radio. He has written opinion pieces for many high-profile publications, including the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for the Economics of the Internet, Hudson Institute
Harold Furchtgott-Roth is a senior fellow and director of the Center for the Economics of the Internet at Hudson Institute.
Mr. Furchtgott-Roth founded Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises in 2003. He frequently comments on issues related to the communications sector of the economy. From 2001 to 2003, he was a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he published A Tough Act to Follow, chronicling the difficulties implementing the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
From 1997 through 2001, Mr. Furchtgott-Roth served as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. In that capacity, he served on the Joint Board on Universal Service. He is one of the few economists to have served as a federal regulatory commissioner, and the only one to have served on the Federal Communications Commission.
Before his appointment to the FCC, he was chief economist for the House Committee on Commerce and a principal staff member on the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Earlier in his career, he was a senior economist with Economists Incorporated and a research analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses.
Mr. Furchtgott-Roth is a member of the Washington Legal Foundation’s Legal Policy Advisory Board. He is the coauthor of three books: Cable TV: Regulation or Competition, with R.W. Crandall; Economics of A Disaster: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, with B.M. Owen et al; and International Trade in Computer Software, with S.E. Siwek.
Global Competition Counsel, BHP Group
Kirstie is Global Competition Counsel at BHP. Based in Singapore, Kirstie is responsible for the group’s competition law compliance framework and leads the BHP competition law team advising advises clients located across the BHP group on the full range of competition law matters, including merger control, investigations and day to day counselling. Before joining BHP, Kirstie spent over a decade in private practice as a competition law specialist with international law firms in London, Brussels, Shanghai and Singapore, and was among the first European competition lawyers to relocate to China to assist clients with aspects of the developing competition laws in Asia. Her practice has covered all aspects of competition law, including cartels, dominance, mergers and appeals to the European Courts. Kirstie was also a founding partner of Landmark Asia in Singapore, a boutique public affairs consultancy assisting clients with regulation and policy throughout the APAC region.
Former Senior Director, Antitrust & Competition, Cisco
Gil Ohana is former Senior Director, Antitrust and Competition for Cisco, the leading manufacturer of networking equipment for the Internet. Gil writes and speaks regularly on antitrust and intellectual property issues relating to standard-essential patents in the areas of wired and wireless networking and communications. He has participated indiscussions of standards development organization IPR policies at leading standards development organizations such as ANSI, ETSI, IEEE-SA, ITU-T, IETF, and OneM2m, and has advised on the formation and operation of numerous informal standards development organizations active in IoT and patent pools.
From 1993 through 1996, Gil was a trial attorney with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he participated in the Division's investigation of Microsoft's software licensing practices and its successful court challenge to Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Intuit.
Gil received his law degree from Columbia University, where he was articles editor of the Columbia Law Review, and his B.A. from Harvard College. He is admitted to the bars of California and the District of Columbia.
Senior Counsel for International Competition Affairs, Deutsche Telekom AG
Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Christopher M. Wilson is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice Group.
Mr. Wilson assists clients in navigating DOJ, FTC, and international competition authority investigations as well as private party litigation involving complex antitrust and consumer protection issues, including matters implicating the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act, the FTC Act, the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) merger review process, as well as international and state competition statutes. His experience crosses multiple industries, including health insurance, transportation, telecommunications, technology, energy, agriculture, and biotechnology, and his particular areas of focus include merger enforcement, interlocking directorates, joint ventures, compliance programs, and employee “no-poach” agreements. He is also well-versed in cross-border investigations involving the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Korea, and Saudi Arabia, among other jurisdictions.
Mr. Wilson is also active in the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association, serving as Vice Chair of the Transportation & Energy Industries Committee. He is also a member of the Section’s Health Care and Pharmaceuticals Committee, and is a frequent participant in ABA webcasts and presentations.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Wilson was a trial attorney in the Transportation, Energy & Agriculture Section of the U.S. Department of Justice – Antitrust Division. During his tenure, Mr. Wilson played a prominent role in numerous high-profile matters, and he received the Antitrust Division’s Award of Distinction on two separate occasions. Before joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Wilson was an associate in Gibson Dunn’s Dallas office.
He is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, and was an editor on the Columbia Business Law Review. He holds a B.A. in Economics from New York University.
Mr. Wilson is admitted to practice in California, Texas, and the District of Columbia.
Proposed Changes to the HSR Merger Filing Process: In-House Counsel View
Kirstie Nicholson, Gil Ohana, Roman Reuter, Chris Wilson
The U.S. antitrust agencies have recently proposed changes to the HSR merger filing process, broadening...
Proposed Changes to the HSR Merger Filing Process: In-House Counsel View
Kirstie Nicholson, Gil Ohana, Roman Reuter, Chris Wilson
The U.S. antitrust agencies have recently proposed changes to the HSR merger filing process, broadening...
Proposed Changes to the HSR Merger Filing Process: In-House Counsel View
Topics
Wireless Exceptionalism: Court Concludes T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Will Speed 5G
The New T-Mobile scored a sweeping victory in New York v. Deutsche Telekom AG. A...
A U.N. Regulated Internet? The Case for Defending Against Persistent Intergovernmental Threats to Internet Freedom
Robert M. McDowell
Note from the Editor: The author has adapted this paper from testimony before the U.S....
Assessing Competition in the Wireless Sector: How DoJ Can Clear Away the Fog from Proposed Mergers
Harold W. Furchtgott-Roth
I. Introduction and Background Over the past twenty years, the American wireless sector has grown...