Former United States Attorney General
William P. Barr was born on May 23, 1950 in New York City. Mr. Barr received his A.B. in government from Columbia University in 1971 and his M.A. in government and Chinese studies in 1973. From 1973 to 1977, he served in the Central Intelligence Agency before receiving his J.D. with highest honors from George Washington University Law School in 1977.
In 1978, Mr. Barr served as a law clerk under Judge Malcolm Wilkey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Following his clerkship, Mr. Barr joined the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm of Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge as an associate. He left the firm to work in the White House under President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1983 on the domestic policy staff, then returned to the law firm and became a partner in 1985.
Under President George H.W. Bush, Mr. Barr served as the Deputy Attorney General from 1990 to 1991; the Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel from 1989 to 1990; and the 77th Attorney General of the United States from 1991 to 1993. While serving at the Department, Mr. Barr helped create programs and strategies to reduce violent crime and was responsible for establishing new enforcement policies in a number of areas including financial institutions, civil rights, and antitrust merger guidelines. Mr. Barr also led the Department’s response to the Savings & Loan crisis; oversaw the investigation of the Pan Am 103 bombing; directed the successful response to the Talladega prison uprising and hostage taking; and coordinated counter-terrorism activities during the First Gulf War.
From 1994 to 2000, Mr. Barr served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for GTE Corporation. Mr. Barr then served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Verizon from 2000 to 2008. At both GTE and Verizon, Mr. Barr led the legal, regulatory, and government affairs activities of the companies.
After retiring from Verizon in 2008, Mr. Barr advised major corporations on government enforcement matters, as well as regulatory litigation. Mr. Barr served as Of Counsel at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in 2009 and rejoined the firm in 2017.
President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Mr. Barr on December 7, 2018, and he was confirmed as the 85th Attorney General of the United States by the U.S. Senate on February 14, 2019. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office. Mr. Barr joins John Crittenden (1841 and 1850-1853) as one of only two people in U.S. history to serve twice as Attorney General.
Partner, Bona Law PC
Steve Cernak is a respected leader in the international antitrust and competition law community. He served as in-house antitrust attorney at General Motors for more than 20 years, ultimately responsible for global antitrust compliance, merger reviews and litigation. As a result, Steve has experience tackling the toughest antitrust issues, and explaining them to everyone in an organization from the CEO to workers in the factories.
After leaving GM, Steve spent seven years at Schiff Hardin’s Ann Arbor office, serving clients both inside and outside the automotive community. As he did at Schiff Hardin, Steve now assists clients big and small on a wide array of competition and consumer protection matters, including compliance programs; joint efforts with competitors; pricing strategies and programs; and merger reviews and filings.
Steve has served in the leadership of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association for more than 20 years, and is currently the Section Chief Marketing Officer. That position keeps him connected to the global community and up-to-date on developments.
Steve is a prolific writer for The Antitrust Lawyer Blog, WoltersKluwer’s AntitrustConnect Blog and various Law360, Lexis and Westlaw publications. The second edition of his textbook of antitrust summaries and materials, Antitrust Simulations, was published in 2019 by West Academic. He updates his Antitrust in Distribution and Franchising annually for publication in the LexisNexis Antitrust Law & Strategy Series. Steve is also a frequent commenter on antitrust developments, both on social and mainstream media.
Steve is a regular teacher at both the University of Michigan Law School and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School Corporate & Finance LLM program at Western Michigan University. He also taught for three years at Wayne State University Law School.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Elyse Dorsey is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Elyse's practice encompasses a wide array of antitrust and competition matters across the globe. She is uniquely situated to advise clients in domestic and international competition matters, given her combination of government and private practice experience.
Elyse has a focus in cutting edge competition issues, as well as privacy, data security, and consumer protection matters. She has represented clients across levels of government, from state agencies to the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining Kirkland, Elyse served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Her work at the Antitrust Division covered a spectrum of legal and policy matters, including IP and technology issues, the Division's appellate and amicus brief programs, and its international and competition policy efforts. Elyse joined the Division from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, where she served as Attorney Advisor to Commission Noah Joshua Phillips. While at the Commission, she advised on key cases, matters, and policies affecting industries across the economy--from digital and tech to pharmaceuticals and hospitals and more.
Elyse is a recognized thought leader in the antitrust and competition communities. She has been a frequent nominee and recipient of antitrust writing awards for her scholarship in this space. She has also served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University's Scalia Law School for several years, helping to launch their Antitrust LL.M. program; and she previously served as a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, United States Department of Justice
Michael Kades is a Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division with a focus on civil enforcement.
Prior to coming to the US Department of Justice, Michael was director for markets and competition policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. His research focused on competition and antitrust enforcement, with an emphasis on consumers, wages, equality, and innovation. He testified before Congress multiple times and authored several reports and articles on antitrust policy.
Prior to joining Equitable Growth, Michael worked as antitrust counsel for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), on detail to the from the Federal Trade Commission. He worked on the CREATES Act, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, and the Trade Secrets Protection Act, all of which Congress enacted. He was also the primary staffer on the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act and the Consolidation Prevention and Competition Protection Act.
Michael spent 20 years investigating and litigating antitrust actions as an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission. From 2013-15, he was the Deputy Chief Trial Counsel for the Bureau of Competition where he participated in a number of merger investigations and litigations. From 2006-2013, served as attorney advisor to Chairman Jon Leibowitz. He oversaw the Commission’s strategy to address anticompetitive patent settlements, worked on the 2010 horizontal merger guidelines, and advised the Chairman on antitrust issues. From 1997-2006, he was an attorney in the Health Care Products Services. He argued In re Schering Plough and In re South Carolina Board of Dentistry before the Commission as well as appearing in federal court. He played a leading role in FTC v. Mylan in which the Commission obtained $100 million in disgorgement. While at the Commission, he received the Chairman’s Award and the Paul Rand Dixon Award.
Kades is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Professor of Law Bruce H. Kobayashi’s background in economics makes him a vital part of the law and economics focus at the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. Since coming to Scalia Law in 1992, he has been a frequent contributor to economics and law and economics journals. He previously served as a senior economist with the Federal Trade Commission, a senior research associate with the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and an economist with the U.S. Department of Justice. He recently served as the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Economics.
Professor Kobayashi was educated at the University of California, Los Angeles, earning his BS in Economics and System Science (1981), and his MA (1982) and PhD (1986) in Economics.
He teaches Litigation and Dispute Resolution Theory, Quantitative Forensics, and Legal and Economic Theory of Intellectual Property.
Wall Chair in Corporate Law and Governance and Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law
Thomas Lambert is the Wall Chair in Corporate Law and Governance and Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law.
Prof. Lambert’s scholarship focuses on antitrust, corporate and regulatory matters. He is the author of How to Regulate: A Guide for Policymakers (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017) and co-author of Antitrust Law: Interpretation and Implementation (5th ed., Foundation Press, 2013). He has also authored or co-authored numerous book chapters and more than 20 journal articles in such publications as the Antitrust Bulletin, the Boston College Law Review, the Minnesota Law Review, the Texas Law Review and the Yale Journal on Regulation. He blogs regularly at Truth on the Market, a site focused on academic commentary on antitrust, business and economic legal issues.
In 2017, Professor Lambert received the University of Missouri’s Kemper Faculty Fellowship (awarded annually to five professors throughout the university for exemplary teaching). He has also received the law school’s Blackwell Sanders Award for Teaching Excellence and the university-wide Gold Chalk Award for excellence in graduate teaching. He is a three-time winner of the University of Missouri Law School’s Shook Hardy & Bacon Excellence in Research Award, which is awarded annually for most outstanding faculty scholarship.
Before entering academia, Professor Lambert practiced law in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin and was a John M. Olin Fellow at Northwestern University School of Law and the Center for the Study of American Business (now the Murray Weidenbaum Center) at Washington University. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Partner, Baker Botts L.L.P.
Taylor Owings is a partner in the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group of Baker Botts L.L.P. She represents clients in civil merger and non-merger matters both in front of government agencies and in private litigation. She also counsels clients on the application of antitrust law to their business activities, with special experience in issues related to the digital economy.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Owings served as Senior Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2018 to 2021. In that role, Ms. Owings was a key advisor to the Assistant Attorney General on the application of antitrust law to technology industries, including in the Department of Justice’s review of the business practices of market-leading online platforms and in the application of antitrust law to the exercise of intellectual property rights and standard setting organizations. As Chief of Staff of the Antitrust Division, Ms. Owings was responsible for ensuring the high quality of all public advocacy issued by the Division, including court filings, policy statements, and speeches.
Ms. Owings has experience crafting both trial and appellate strategy in headline-making antitrust litigations. She has argued in the First and Fourth Circuits. Earlier in her career, she clerked for the Honorable Douglas H. Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and for the Honorable Richard J. Leon on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Ms. Owings handles all aspects of merger review. She draws on her first-hand experience investigating and reviewing mergers at the Antitrust Division to advise clients and to represent them in front of the agencies. She has special experience in merger matters with complex legal questions, for instance vertical mergers, the acquisition of a nascent or potential competitor, and the implications of a merger on innovation and data accumulation.
Vice President of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Cogeco Inc.
Paul Beaudry is Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs at Cogeco Inc. He leads Cogeco’s regulatory function in Canada and the United States, and represents the company in proceedings before the CRTC, the Federal Communications Commission and other government departments and regulatory agencies. He also oversees compliance with regulatory requirements imposed on the company at each level of government, in both countries. In addition, Paul leads Cogeco’s Sustainability team and the strategy for public disclosure of ESG matters. He joined Cogeco in November 2020 and has since held progressively larger leadership roles within the organization.
Prior to joining Cogeco, Paul served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at TELUS in Calgary. He also practiced competition and foreign investment law at Stikeman Elliott LLP and Ogilvy Renault LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright) and served as a senior policy advisor to Canada’s Minister of Industry.
Paul is a graduate of the University of Montreal Faculty of Law and is a member of the Quebec Bar. He serve on the boards of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), La Fondation La Rue des Femmes and the Canadian chapter of the International Institute of Communications. He also sits on the Governors Council of Golf Canada.
Chief Executive Officer, OUTtv
Brad Danks is the CEO of OUTtv a Canadian specialty channel and OTT Platform that broadcasts in Canada and around the World. His day to day activities include overseeing all aspects of the channel including all matters relating to dealing with cable companies and affiliates, programming acquisitions and sales, marketing and sales and new media. In addition, he is deeply involved in the development and financing of new film and television properties. He is also an educator that teaches Entertainment and Media issues at a number of institutions and is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Victoria.
Senior Research Fellow, Center for Growth and Opportunity
William Rinehart is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University.
He specializes in telecommunication, Internet, and data policy, with a focus on emerging technologies and innovation. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Wired, Morning Consult, The Hill, Forbes, Reason, Marginal Revolution, Overlawyered, and on BBC Radio and NPR, just to name a few. Rinehart speaks regularly on topics related to tech policy and has been cited in regulatory orders from the FCC as well as Supreme Court petitions.
Rinehart came to the Center from the American Action Forum, where he served as Director of Technology and Innovation Policy. He was also previously a Research Fellow at TechFreedom and the Director of Operations at the International Center for Law & Economics. Additionally, he worked for the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement as the Research Assistant in Technology and Civic Engagement. Rinehart is currently a Frédéric Bastiat Fellow at the Mercatus Center and previously a Fellow at the Internet Law & Policy Foundry. Additionally, he served on the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Deployment Committee and Consumer Advocacy Committee.
Partner, Bona Law PC
Steve Cernak is a respected leader in the international antitrust and competition law community. He served as in-house antitrust attorney at General Motors for more than 20 years, ultimately responsible for global antitrust compliance, merger reviews and litigation. As a result, Steve has experience tackling the toughest antitrust issues, and explaining them to everyone in an organization from the CEO to workers in the factories.
After leaving GM, Steve spent seven years at Schiff Hardin’s Ann Arbor office, serving clients both inside and outside the automotive community. As he did at Schiff Hardin, Steve now assists clients big and small on a wide array of competition and consumer protection matters, including compliance programs; joint efforts with competitors; pricing strategies and programs; and merger reviews and filings.
Steve has served in the leadership of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association for more than 20 years, and is currently the Section Chief Marketing Officer. That position keeps him connected to the global community and up-to-date on developments.
Steve is a prolific writer for The Antitrust Lawyer Blog, WoltersKluwer’s AntitrustConnect Blog and various Law360, Lexis and Westlaw publications. The second edition of his textbook of antitrust summaries and materials, Antitrust Simulations, was published in 2019 by West Academic. He updates his Antitrust in Distribution and Franchising annually for publication in the LexisNexis Antitrust Law & Strategy Series. Steve is also a frequent commenter on antitrust developments, both on social and mainstream media.
Steve is a regular teacher at both the University of Michigan Law School and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School Corporate & Finance LLM program at Western Michigan University. He also taught for three years at Wayne State University Law School.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, United States Department of Justice
Michael Kades is a Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division with a focus on civil enforcement.
Prior to coming to the US Department of Justice, Michael was director for markets and competition policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. His research focused on competition and antitrust enforcement, with an emphasis on consumers, wages, equality, and innovation. He testified before Congress multiple times and authored several reports and articles on antitrust policy.
Prior to joining Equitable Growth, Michael worked as antitrust counsel for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), on detail to the from the Federal Trade Commission. He worked on the CREATES Act, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, and the Trade Secrets Protection Act, all of which Congress enacted. He was also the primary staffer on the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act and the Consolidation Prevention and Competition Protection Act.
Michael spent 20 years investigating and litigating antitrust actions as an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission. From 2013-15, he was the Deputy Chief Trial Counsel for the Bureau of Competition where he participated in a number of merger investigations and litigations. From 2006-2013, served as attorney advisor to Chairman Jon Leibowitz. He oversaw the Commission’s strategy to address anticompetitive patent settlements, worked on the 2010 horizontal merger guidelines, and advised the Chairman on antitrust issues. From 1997-2006, he was an attorney in the Health Care Products Services. He argued In re Schering Plough and In re South Carolina Board of Dentistry before the Commission as well as appearing in federal court. He played a leading role in FTC v. Mylan in which the Commission obtained $100 million in disgorgement. While at the Commission, he received the Chairman’s Award and the Paul Rand Dixon Award.
Kades is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Professor of Law Bruce H. Kobayashi’s background in economics makes him a vital part of the law and economics focus at the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. Since coming to Scalia Law in 1992, he has been a frequent contributor to economics and law and economics journals. He previously served as a senior economist with the Federal Trade Commission, a senior research associate with the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and an economist with the U.S. Department of Justice. He recently served as the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Economics.
Professor Kobayashi was educated at the University of California, Los Angeles, earning his BS in Economics and System Science (1981), and his MA (1982) and PhD (1986) in Economics.
He teaches Litigation and Dispute Resolution Theory, Quantitative Forensics, and Legal and Economic Theory of Intellectual Property.
Wall Chair in Corporate Law and Governance and Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law
Thomas Lambert is the Wall Chair in Corporate Law and Governance and Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law.
Prof. Lambert’s scholarship focuses on antitrust, corporate and regulatory matters. He is the author of How to Regulate: A Guide for Policymakers (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017) and co-author of Antitrust Law: Interpretation and Implementation (5th ed., Foundation Press, 2013). He has also authored or co-authored numerous book chapters and more than 20 journal articles in such publications as the Antitrust Bulletin, the Boston College Law Review, the Minnesota Law Review, the Texas Law Review and the Yale Journal on Regulation. He blogs regularly at Truth on the Market, a site focused on academic commentary on antitrust, business and economic legal issues.
In 2017, Professor Lambert received the University of Missouri’s Kemper Faculty Fellowship (awarded annually to five professors throughout the university for exemplary teaching). He has also received the law school’s Blackwell Sanders Award for Teaching Excellence and the university-wide Gold Chalk Award for excellence in graduate teaching. He is a three-time winner of the University of Missouri Law School’s Shook Hardy & Bacon Excellence in Research Award, which is awarded annually for most outstanding faculty scholarship.
Before entering academia, Professor Lambert practiced law in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin and was a John M. Olin Fellow at Northwestern University School of Law and the Center for the Study of American Business (now the Murray Weidenbaum Center) at Washington University. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Partner, Baker Botts L.L.P.
Taylor Owings is a partner in the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group of Baker Botts L.L.P. She represents clients in civil merger and non-merger matters both in front of government agencies and in private litigation. She also counsels clients on the application of antitrust law to their business activities, with special experience in issues related to the digital economy.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Owings served as Senior Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2018 to 2021. In that role, Ms. Owings was a key advisor to the Assistant Attorney General on the application of antitrust law to technology industries, including in the Department of Justice’s review of the business practices of market-leading online platforms and in the application of antitrust law to the exercise of intellectual property rights and standard setting organizations. As Chief of Staff of the Antitrust Division, Ms. Owings was responsible for ensuring the high quality of all public advocacy issued by the Division, including court filings, policy statements, and speeches.
Ms. Owings has experience crafting both trial and appellate strategy in headline-making antitrust litigations. She has argued in the First and Fourth Circuits. Earlier in her career, she clerked for the Honorable Douglas H. Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and for the Honorable Richard J. Leon on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Ms. Owings handles all aspects of merger review. She draws on her first-hand experience investigating and reviewing mergers at the Antitrust Division to advise clients and to represent them in front of the agencies. She has special experience in merger matters with complex legal questions, for instance vertical mergers, the acquisition of a nascent or potential competitor, and the implications of a merger on innovation and data accumulation.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Elyse Dorsey is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Elyse's practice encompasses a wide array of antitrust and competition matters across the globe. She is uniquely situated to advise clients in domestic and international competition matters, given her combination of government and private practice experience.
Elyse has a focus in cutting edge competition issues, as well as privacy, data security, and consumer protection matters. She has represented clients across levels of government, from state agencies to the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining Kirkland, Elyse served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Her work at the Antitrust Division covered a spectrum of legal and policy matters, including IP and technology issues, the Division's appellate and amicus brief programs, and its international and competition policy efforts. Elyse joined the Division from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, where she served as Attorney Advisor to Commission Noah Joshua Phillips. While at the Commission, she advised on key cases, matters, and policies affecting industries across the economy--from digital and tech to pharmaceuticals and hospitals and more.
Elyse is a recognized thought leader in the antitrust and competition communities. She has been a frequent nominee and recipient of antitrust writing awards for her scholarship in this space. She has also served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University's Scalia Law School for several years, helping to launch their Antitrust LL.M. program; and she previously served as a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia.
Partner, Bona Law PC
Steve Cernak is a respected leader in the international antitrust and competition law community. He served as in-house antitrust attorney at General Motors for more than 20 years, ultimately responsible for global antitrust compliance, merger reviews and litigation. As a result, Steve has experience tackling the toughest antitrust issues, and explaining them to everyone in an organization from the CEO to workers in the factories.
After leaving GM, Steve spent seven years at Schiff Hardin’s Ann Arbor office, serving clients both inside and outside the automotive community. As he did at Schiff Hardin, Steve now assists clients big and small on a wide array of competition and consumer protection matters, including compliance programs; joint efforts with competitors; pricing strategies and programs; and merger reviews and filings.
Steve has served in the leadership of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association for more than 20 years, and is currently the Section Chief Marketing Officer. That position keeps him connected to the global community and up-to-date on developments.
Steve is a prolific writer for The Antitrust Lawyer Blog, WoltersKluwer’s AntitrustConnect Blog and various Law360, Lexis and Westlaw publications. The second edition of his textbook of antitrust summaries and materials, Antitrust Simulations, was published in 2019 by West Academic. He updates his Antitrust in Distribution and Franchising annually for publication in the LexisNexis Antitrust Law & Strategy Series. Steve is also a frequent commenter on antitrust developments, both on social and mainstream media.
Steve is a regular teacher at both the University of Michigan Law School and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School Corporate & Finance LLM program at Western Michigan University. He also taught for three years at Wayne State University Law School.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Elyse Dorsey is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Elyse's practice encompasses a wide array of antitrust and competition matters across the globe. She is uniquely situated to advise clients in domestic and international competition matters, given her combination of government and private practice experience.
Elyse has a focus in cutting edge competition issues, as well as privacy, data security, and consumer protection matters. She has represented clients across levels of government, from state agencies to the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining Kirkland, Elyse served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Her work at the Antitrust Division covered a spectrum of legal and policy matters, including IP and technology issues, the Division's appellate and amicus brief programs, and its international and competition policy efforts. Elyse joined the Division from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, where she served as Attorney Advisor to Commission Noah Joshua Phillips. While at the Commission, she advised on key cases, matters, and policies affecting industries across the economy--from digital and tech to pharmaceuticals and hospitals and more.
Elyse is a recognized thought leader in the antitrust and competition communities. She has been a frequent nominee and recipient of antitrust writing awards for her scholarship in this space. She has also served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University's Scalia Law School for several years, helping to launch their Antitrust LL.M. program; and she previously served as a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, United States Department of Justice
Michael Kades is a Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division with a focus on civil enforcement.
Prior to coming to the US Department of Justice, Michael was director for markets and competition policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. His research focused on competition and antitrust enforcement, with an emphasis on consumers, wages, equality, and innovation. He testified before Congress multiple times and authored several reports and articles on antitrust policy.
Prior to joining Equitable Growth, Michael worked as antitrust counsel for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), on detail to the from the Federal Trade Commission. He worked on the CREATES Act, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, and the Trade Secrets Protection Act, all of which Congress enacted. He was also the primary staffer on the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act and the Consolidation Prevention and Competition Protection Act.
Michael spent 20 years investigating and litigating antitrust actions as an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission. From 2013-15, he was the Deputy Chief Trial Counsel for the Bureau of Competition where he participated in a number of merger investigations and litigations. From 2006-2013, served as attorney advisor to Chairman Jon Leibowitz. He oversaw the Commission’s strategy to address anticompetitive patent settlements, worked on the 2010 horizontal merger guidelines, and advised the Chairman on antitrust issues. From 1997-2006, he was an attorney in the Health Care Products Services. He argued In re Schering Plough and In re South Carolina Board of Dentistry before the Commission as well as appearing in federal court. He played a leading role in FTC v. Mylan in which the Commission obtained $100 million in disgorgement. While at the Commission, he received the Chairman’s Award and the Paul Rand Dixon Award.
Kades is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Professor of Law Bruce H. Kobayashi’s background in economics makes him a vital part of the law and economics focus at the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. Since coming to Scalia Law in 1992, he has been a frequent contributor to economics and law and economics journals. He previously served as a senior economist with the Federal Trade Commission, a senior research associate with the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and an economist with the U.S. Department of Justice. He recently served as the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Economics.
Professor Kobayashi was educated at the University of California, Los Angeles, earning his BS in Economics and System Science (1981), and his MA (1982) and PhD (1986) in Economics.
He teaches Litigation and Dispute Resolution Theory, Quantitative Forensics, and Legal and Economic Theory of Intellectual Property.
Wall Chair in Corporate Law and Governance and Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law
Thomas Lambert is the Wall Chair in Corporate Law and Governance and Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law.
Prof. Lambert’s scholarship focuses on antitrust, corporate and regulatory matters. He is the author of How to Regulate: A Guide for Policymakers (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017) and co-author of Antitrust Law: Interpretation and Implementation (5th ed., Foundation Press, 2013). He has also authored or co-authored numerous book chapters and more than 20 journal articles in such publications as the Antitrust Bulletin, the Boston College Law Review, the Minnesota Law Review, the Texas Law Review and the Yale Journal on Regulation. He blogs regularly at Truth on the Market, a site focused on academic commentary on antitrust, business and economic legal issues.
In 2017, Professor Lambert received the University of Missouri’s Kemper Faculty Fellowship (awarded annually to five professors throughout the university for exemplary teaching). He has also received the law school’s Blackwell Sanders Award for Teaching Excellence and the university-wide Gold Chalk Award for excellence in graduate teaching. He is a three-time winner of the University of Missouri Law School’s Shook Hardy & Bacon Excellence in Research Award, which is awarded annually for most outstanding faculty scholarship.
Before entering academia, Professor Lambert practiced law in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin and was a John M. Olin Fellow at Northwestern University School of Law and the Center for the Study of American Business (now the Murray Weidenbaum Center) at Washington University. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Partner, Baker Botts L.L.P.
Taylor Owings is a partner in the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group of Baker Botts L.L.P. She represents clients in civil merger and non-merger matters both in front of government agencies and in private litigation. She also counsels clients on the application of antitrust law to their business activities, with special experience in issues related to the digital economy.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Owings served as Senior Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2018 to 2021. In that role, Ms. Owings was a key advisor to the Assistant Attorney General on the application of antitrust law to technology industries, including in the Department of Justice’s review of the business practices of market-leading online platforms and in the application of antitrust law to the exercise of intellectual property rights and standard setting organizations. As Chief of Staff of the Antitrust Division, Ms. Owings was responsible for ensuring the high quality of all public advocacy issued by the Division, including court filings, policy statements, and speeches.
Ms. Owings has experience crafting both trial and appellate strategy in headline-making antitrust litigations. She has argued in the First and Fourth Circuits. Earlier in her career, she clerked for the Honorable Douglas H. Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and for the Honorable Richard J. Leon on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Ms. Owings handles all aspects of merger review. She draws on her first-hand experience investigating and reviewing mergers at the Antitrust Division to advise clients and to represent them in front of the agencies. She has special experience in merger matters with complex legal questions, for instance vertical mergers, the acquisition of a nascent or potential competitor, and the implications of a merger on innovation and data accumulation.
Vice President of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Cogeco Inc.
Paul Beaudry is Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs at Cogeco Inc. He leads Cogeco’s regulatory function in Canada and the United States, and represents the company in proceedings before the CRTC, the Federal Communications Commission and other government departments and regulatory agencies. He also oversees compliance with regulatory requirements imposed on the company at each level of government, in both countries. In addition, Paul leads Cogeco’s Sustainability team and the strategy for public disclosure of ESG matters. He joined Cogeco in November 2020 and has since held progressively larger leadership roles within the organization.
Prior to joining Cogeco, Paul served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at TELUS in Calgary. He also practiced competition and foreign investment law at Stikeman Elliott LLP and Ogilvy Renault LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright) and served as a senior policy advisor to Canada’s Minister of Industry.
Paul is a graduate of the University of Montreal Faculty of Law and is a member of the Quebec Bar. He serve on the boards of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), La Fondation La Rue des Femmes and the Canadian chapter of the International Institute of Communications. He also sits on the Governors Council of Golf Canada.
Chief Executive Officer, OUTtv
Brad Danks is the CEO of OUTtv a Canadian specialty channel and OTT Platform that broadcasts in Canada and around the World. His day to day activities include overseeing all aspects of the channel including all matters relating to dealing with cable companies and affiliates, programming acquisitions and sales, marketing and sales and new media. In addition, he is deeply involved in the development and financing of new film and television properties. He is also an educator that teaches Entertainment and Media issues at a number of institutions and is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Victoria.
Senior Research Fellow, Center for Growth and Opportunity
William Rinehart is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University.
He specializes in telecommunication, Internet, and data policy, with a focus on emerging technologies and innovation. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Wired, Morning Consult, The Hill, Forbes, Reason, Marginal Revolution, Overlawyered, and on BBC Radio and NPR, just to name a few. Rinehart speaks regularly on topics related to tech policy and has been cited in regulatory orders from the FCC as well as Supreme Court petitions.
Rinehart came to the Center from the American Action Forum, where he served as Director of Technology and Innovation Policy. He was also previously a Research Fellow at TechFreedom and the Director of Operations at the International Center for Law & Economics. Additionally, he worked for the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement as the Research Assistant in Technology and Civic Engagement. Rinehart is currently a Frédéric Bastiat Fellow at the Mercatus Center and previously a Fellow at the Internet Law & Policy Foundry. Additionally, he served on the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Deployment Committee and Consumer Advocacy Committee.
Vice President of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Cogeco Inc.
Paul Beaudry is Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs at Cogeco Inc. He leads Cogeco’s regulatory function in Canada and the United States, and represents the company in proceedings before the CRTC, the Federal Communications Commission and other government departments and regulatory agencies. He also oversees compliance with regulatory requirements imposed on the company at each level of government, in both countries. In addition, Paul leads Cogeco’s Sustainability team and the strategy for public disclosure of ESG matters. He joined Cogeco in November 2020 and has since held progressively larger leadership roles within the organization.
Prior to joining Cogeco, Paul served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at TELUS in Calgary. He also practiced competition and foreign investment law at Stikeman Elliott LLP and Ogilvy Renault LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright) and served as a senior policy advisor to Canada’s Minister of Industry.
Paul is a graduate of the University of Montreal Faculty of Law and is a member of the Quebec Bar. He serve on the boards of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), La Fondation La Rue des Femmes and the Canadian chapter of the International Institute of Communications. He also sits on the Governors Council of Golf Canada.
Chief Executive Officer, OUTtv
Brad Danks is the CEO of OUTtv a Canadian specialty channel and OTT Platform that broadcasts in Canada and around the World. His day to day activities include overseeing all aspects of the channel including all matters relating to dealing with cable companies and affiliates, programming acquisitions and sales, marketing and sales and new media. In addition, he is deeply involved in the development and financing of new film and television properties. He is also an educator that teaches Entertainment and Media issues at a number of institutions and is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Victoria.
Senior Research Fellow, Center for Growth and Opportunity
William Rinehart is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University.
He specializes in telecommunication, Internet, and data policy, with a focus on emerging technologies and innovation. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Wired, Morning Consult, The Hill, Forbes, Reason, Marginal Revolution, Overlawyered, and on BBC Radio and NPR, just to name a few. Rinehart speaks regularly on topics related to tech policy and has been cited in regulatory orders from the FCC as well as Supreme Court petitions.
Rinehart came to the Center from the American Action Forum, where he served as Director of Technology and Innovation Policy. He was also previously a Research Fellow at TechFreedom and the Director of Operations at the International Center for Law & Economics. Additionally, he worked for the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement as the Research Assistant in Technology and Civic Engagement. Rinehart is currently a Frédéric Bastiat Fellow at the Mercatus Center and previously a Fellow at the Internet Law & Policy Foundry. Additionally, he served on the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Deployment Committee and Consumer Advocacy Committee.
Topics
FTC v. Facebook: Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?
Industry-wide problems such as data security and privacy require industry-wide solutions. While there is broad...
Dinner & Keynote Address: "New Challenges for In-House Counsel"
Co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Center
Chicago, ILDeep Dive Episode 189 – A Dawning Era for Vertical Mergers? The New Vertical Merger Guidelines, Illumina/Grail, and More
Steve Cernak, Michael Kades, Bruce Kobayashi, Thomas Lambert, Taylor Owings, Elyse Dorsey
The antitrust agencies’ approach to vertical mergers has been the subject of significant debate —...
A Dawning Era for Vertical Mergers?: The New Vertical Merger Guidelines, the FTC's Challenge to Illumina/Grail, and the Future of Enforcement
A Regulatory Transparency Project Webinar
A Dawning Era for Vertical Mergers?: The New Vertical Merger Guidelines, the FTC's Challenge to Illumina/Grail, and the Future of Enforcement
Steve Cernak, Elyse Dorsey, Michael Kades, Bruce Kobayashi, Thomas Lambert, Taylor Owings
The antitrust agencies’ approach to vertical mergers has been the subject of significant debate —...
Topics
Volunteering in the FCC's Merger Review Process
On August 14, 2020, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued...
Topics
Net Neutrality Should Not Live On Through Asymmetrical Merger Commitments
According to the Communications Act, the Federal Communications Commission has concurrent authority with the antitrust...
Deep Dive Episode 81 – Vertical Integration in Broadcasting: A Cause for Concern?
Paul Beaudry, Brad Danks, William Rinehart
The broadcasting market used to be straightforward. It functioned on a linear model consisting of...
Vertical Integration in Broadcasting: A Cause for Concern?
Paul Beaudry, Brad Danks, William Rinehart
The broadcasting market used to be straightforward. It functioned on a linear model consisting of...
Vertical Integration in Broadcasting: A Cause for Concern?
Teleforum