Shareholder, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Allen Grunes skillfully navigates the full spectrum of competition law issues. From proactively analyzing mergers and acquisitions to guiding clients through the antitrust review process, he provides experienced antitrust counsel. At Brownstein, he often assists clients in developing government relations and public relations strategies in high-profile matters. His clients have included Fortune 500 companies, start-ups and small businesses, consumer advocacy groups and labor unions.
Allen previously spent more than a decade at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, where he led many merger and civil non-merger investigations in radio, television, newspapers, motion pictures and other industries. He was part of the litigation team in a number of important cases brought by the United States, including U.S. v. Alex Brown & Sons. In private practice, he has worked as special counsel for the State of Ohio and has served as class counsel for a class of temporary nurses in Arizona. He is a recent past president of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia and a member of the Barristers.
Partner, Antitrust and Competition, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Maureen Ohlhausen is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she advises industry-leading clients on complex antitrust and litigation matters, with a focus on high-profile cases. Sought after for her depth of experience on antitrust and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)-related issues, Maureen is known for her relationships with officials in the U.S. and abroad.
After finishing law school and clerking at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Maureen joined the FTC in 1997. She held a series of roles at the agency over the next 12 years, rising to the position of Director of the FTC Office of Policy Planning, where she led the agency’s work on e-commerce and headed the FTC’s Internet Access Task Force, which produced an influential report analyzing competition and consumer protection legal issues in the broadband and internet sectors. She then went into private practice at a leading telecommunications law firm, where she headed the FTC practice group.
In 2012, Maureen was confirmed by the Senate as a Commissioner of the FTC and was appointed Acting Chairman in January 2017, a role she held until May 2018. As Acting Chairman, Maureen directed all aspects of the agency’s antitrust work, including merger review, conduct enforcement, and all consumer protection enforcement, with an emphasis on privacy and technology issues. Under her leadership, the FTC won several influential merger challenges in court and reached a number of key digital privacy settlements.
To date, Maureen is the only FTC Commissioner to have received the Robert Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to the FTC.
Following the end of her term at the FTC, and immediately prior to joining Wilson Sonsini, Maureen was chair of the global antitrust and competition practice at Baker Botts, based in that firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
A recognized thought leader, Maureen is a frequent author and speaker, and is often quoted by leading print and broadcast media on antitrust, FTC, and privacy and data security matters. She has published dozens of articles on antitrust, privacy, intellectual property, regulation, FTC litigation, telecommunications, and international law issues in prestigious publications. During her tenure at the FTC and in private practice, she testified more than two dozen times before Congress, including before the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Antitrust Sub-Committee. She also testified before the Antitrust Modernization Commission.
Antitrust Partner, White & Case
Rahul Rao is a partner in the Global Antitrust Practice at White & Case and the former Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition. He advises clients on merger clearance, government investigations, antitrust litigation, and regulatory strategy, with particular depth in healthcare, life sciences, private equity, retail, and labor markets.
At the FTC, Rahul led major merger and conduct investigations, supervised enforcement in critical sectors, and helped shape landmark policy initiatives, including the revised Merger Guidelines and the Commission’s noncompete rulemaking. Earlier, he helped establish the Washington State Attorney General’s Antitrust Division as a national leader in labor market competition enforcement.
Having served on both the federal and state enforcement front lines, Rahul brings clients a unique understanding of agency priorities, risk profiles, and strategies for navigating today’s increasingly dynamic antitrust environment.
Counsel, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP; Senior Competition Counsel, TechFreedom
Bilal Sayyed represents clients before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in significant merger, civil and criminal antitrust matters. A significant portion of his practice involves representing investment funds on antitrust and Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act compliance matters; he has also provided expert witness services related to HSR compliance. Bilal also counsels clients before the FTC in consumer protection and privacy investigations. He maintains an active amicus and appellate brief writing practice in antitrust litigation and antitrust merger matters.
Prior to joining Cadwalader, Bilal was the Director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning (OPP) (2018-2021). In that role, he provided legal and policy advice to the Chairman and Commissioners on antitrust and consumer protection matters and worked closely with the senior and career leadership of the FTC’s Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection, and Economics. Bilal previously served as an Attorney Advisor to FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris from 2001 to 2004. In that role, Bilal advised the Chairman on matters involving a wide spectrum of industries, including chemical and mining, petroleum and natural gas, health care and pharmaceutical, defense and transportation, gaming, various consumer products and retail operations, and professional associations and standard-setting organizations.
Bilal has taught antitrust and competition law at the George Mason University School of Law since 2011.
Bilal received his B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the State of New York, as well as before the U.S. District Courts for the District of Colorado and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Fifth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bilal is the host of Rethinking Antitrust, a podcast published by TechFreedom that examines the economics, institutions, law, legislation, and policy goals of antitrust enforcement.
President, Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies
Lawrence J. Spiwak is President of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that studies broad public-policy issues related to governance, social and economic conditions, with a particular emphasis on the law and economics of the digital age. Mr. Spiwak is a prolific scholar whose work is frequently cited by policymakers, major news media and academic journals around the world, and is in the top 1.3%of authors downloaded on the Social Science Research Network. Mr. Spiwak currently serves as the co-chair of the Federal Communications Bar Association’s (FCBA) committee responsible for overseeing the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS LAW JOURNAL and is a member of the program committee of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (“TPRC”). Mr. Spiwak is also the recipient of the FCBA’s Distinguished Service Award. Prior to joining the Phoenix Center, Mr. Spiwak was a Senior Attorney with the Competition Division in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel from 1994-1998. While in college, Mr. Spiwak was accepted into the Presidential Stay-In School program where he was responsible for delivering classified and confidential material among senior White House and Reagan Administration officials and received a full FBI security clearance. Mr. Spiwak received his B.A. with Special Honors from the George Washington University and his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Mr. Spiwak is a member in good standing of the bars of New York, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Shareholder, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Allen Grunes skillfully navigates the full spectrum of competition law issues. From proactively analyzing mergers and acquisitions to guiding clients through the antitrust review process, he provides experienced antitrust counsel. At Brownstein, he often assists clients in developing government relations and public relations strategies in high-profile matters. His clients have included Fortune 500 companies, start-ups and small businesses, consumer advocacy groups and labor unions.
Allen previously spent more than a decade at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, where he led many merger and civil non-merger investigations in radio, television, newspapers, motion pictures and other industries. He was part of the litigation team in a number of important cases brought by the United States, including U.S. v. Alex Brown & Sons. In private practice, he has worked as special counsel for the State of Ohio and has served as class counsel for a class of temporary nurses in Arizona. He is a recent past president of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia and a member of the Barristers.
Partner, Antitrust and Competition, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Maureen Ohlhausen is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she advises industry-leading clients on complex antitrust and litigation matters, with a focus on high-profile cases. Sought after for her depth of experience on antitrust and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)-related issues, Maureen is known for her relationships with officials in the U.S. and abroad.
After finishing law school and clerking at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Maureen joined the FTC in 1997. She held a series of roles at the agency over the next 12 years, rising to the position of Director of the FTC Office of Policy Planning, where she led the agency’s work on e-commerce and headed the FTC’s Internet Access Task Force, which produced an influential report analyzing competition and consumer protection legal issues in the broadband and internet sectors. She then went into private practice at a leading telecommunications law firm, where she headed the FTC practice group.
In 2012, Maureen was confirmed by the Senate as a Commissioner of the FTC and was appointed Acting Chairman in January 2017, a role she held until May 2018. As Acting Chairman, Maureen directed all aspects of the agency’s antitrust work, including merger review, conduct enforcement, and all consumer protection enforcement, with an emphasis on privacy and technology issues. Under her leadership, the FTC won several influential merger challenges in court and reached a number of key digital privacy settlements.
To date, Maureen is the only FTC Commissioner to have received the Robert Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to the FTC.
Following the end of her term at the FTC, and immediately prior to joining Wilson Sonsini, Maureen was chair of the global antitrust and competition practice at Baker Botts, based in that firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
A recognized thought leader, Maureen is a frequent author and speaker, and is often quoted by leading print and broadcast media on antitrust, FTC, and privacy and data security matters. She has published dozens of articles on antitrust, privacy, intellectual property, regulation, FTC litigation, telecommunications, and international law issues in prestigious publications. During her tenure at the FTC and in private practice, she testified more than two dozen times before Congress, including before the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Antitrust Sub-Committee. She also testified before the Antitrust Modernization Commission.
Antitrust Partner, White & Case
Rahul Rao is a partner in the Global Antitrust Practice at White & Case and the former Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition. He advises clients on merger clearance, government investigations, antitrust litigation, and regulatory strategy, with particular depth in healthcare, life sciences, private equity, retail, and labor markets.
At the FTC, Rahul led major merger and conduct investigations, supervised enforcement in critical sectors, and helped shape landmark policy initiatives, including the revised Merger Guidelines and the Commission’s noncompete rulemaking. Earlier, he helped establish the Washington State Attorney General’s Antitrust Division as a national leader in labor market competition enforcement.
Having served on both the federal and state enforcement front lines, Rahul brings clients a unique understanding of agency priorities, risk profiles, and strategies for navigating today’s increasingly dynamic antitrust environment.
Counsel, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP; Senior Competition Counsel, TechFreedom
Bilal Sayyed represents clients before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in significant merger, civil and criminal antitrust matters. A significant portion of his practice involves representing investment funds on antitrust and Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act compliance matters; he has also provided expert witness services related to HSR compliance. Bilal also counsels clients before the FTC in consumer protection and privacy investigations. He maintains an active amicus and appellate brief writing practice in antitrust litigation and antitrust merger matters.
Prior to joining Cadwalader, Bilal was the Director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning (OPP) (2018-2021). In that role, he provided legal and policy advice to the Chairman and Commissioners on antitrust and consumer protection matters and worked closely with the senior and career leadership of the FTC’s Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection, and Economics. Bilal previously served as an Attorney Advisor to FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris from 2001 to 2004. In that role, Bilal advised the Chairman on matters involving a wide spectrum of industries, including chemical and mining, petroleum and natural gas, health care and pharmaceutical, defense and transportation, gaming, various consumer products and retail operations, and professional associations and standard-setting organizations.
Bilal has taught antitrust and competition law at the George Mason University School of Law since 2011.
Bilal received his B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the State of New York, as well as before the U.S. District Courts for the District of Colorado and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Fifth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bilal is the host of Rethinking Antitrust, a podcast published by TechFreedom that examines the economics, institutions, law, legislation, and policy goals of antitrust enforcement.
President, Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies
Lawrence J. Spiwak is President of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that studies broad public-policy issues related to governance, social and economic conditions, with a particular emphasis on the law and economics of the digital age. Mr. Spiwak is a prolific scholar whose work is frequently cited by policymakers, major news media and academic journals around the world, and is in the top 1.3%of authors downloaded on the Social Science Research Network. Mr. Spiwak currently serves as the co-chair of the Federal Communications Bar Association’s (FCBA) committee responsible for overseeing the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS LAW JOURNAL and is a member of the program committee of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (“TPRC”). Mr. Spiwak is also the recipient of the FCBA’s Distinguished Service Award. Prior to joining the Phoenix Center, Mr. Spiwak was a Senior Attorney with the Competition Division in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel from 1994-1998. While in college, Mr. Spiwak was accepted into the Presidential Stay-In School program where he was responsible for delivering classified and confidential material among senior White House and Reagan Administration officials and received a full FBI security clearance. Mr. Spiwak received his B.A. with Special Honors from the George Washington University and his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Mr. Spiwak is a member in good standing of the bars of New York, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Partner, Vinson & Elkins LLP
Fry Wernick is a Chambers-rated lawyer and former federal prosecutor who serves as a partner in the Government Investigations and White Collar Practice Group in the firm’s Washington, D.C. and Dallas offices.
As a former federal prosecutor and supervisor of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Fraud Section with experience as lead attorney in over 30 trials, Fry has a broad range of white collar enforcement and courtroom experience. Fry regularly conducts internal investigations and defends companies and individuals against government investigations into a broad range of conduct and he has specific experience prosecuting and defending cases involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-money laundering (AML) statutes, the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the False Claims Act (FCA), sanctions, campaign finance laws, and other fraud, consumer protection and corruption-related offenses. Fry also has extensive experience representing clients and appearing before numerous alphabet agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Department of Education (ED) and other regulators and investigative bodies. Fry also draws on his experience as a former counsel to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary to help prepare and defend companies and individuals facing inquiries and investigations by Congress.
An important part of Fry’s practice is advising publicly traded and privately held companies on transactional risk, particularly concerning business transactions in emerging markets, and he helps companies develop effective compliance programs. Fry also understands all aspects of crisis management, and he draws on his extensive experience to tailor and coordinate sophisticated responses to investigations and inquiries from governmental, legislative and media sources in order to minimize the potential for legal and reputational risk for his clients.
As a former supervisor in DOJ’s FCPA Unit, Fry is one of the few former federal prosecutors who has actually prosecuted violations of the FCPA, and he has keen insight into how the Department of Justice prioritizes and investigates cases involving alleged violations of the FCPA and other white collar crimes. At DOJ, Fry led and supervised dozens of the Department’s most high-profile cases, including six of the largest-ever FCPA corporate criminal resolutions and dozens of individual prosecutions. Fry has extensive experience negotiating corporate settlements. including DPAs, NPAs and declinations under the recent revisions to the Department’s Corporate Enforcement Policy. In addition, Fry has conducted multiple cross-border criminal investigations and coordinated resolutions with multiple foreign and domestic government authorities, and he has developed an advanced understanding of how foreign regulators enforce the U.K. Bribery Act, the French Sapin II, and other anti-bribery laws.
Fry is a thought leader on the FCPA and white collar matters and he is frequently published and quoted in the press, including recently by the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Law 360, Global Investigations Review, The Anti-Corruption Report, The FCPA Professor, Energy Voice and other publications. Fry also has been recognized by Chambers USA, Legal 500, Lawdragon 500 and Who’s Who Legal for his investigations and white collar practice, and Law360 named Fry a “2021 Compliance MVP.”
In 2022, Fry took over as the firm’s Pro Bono Partner where he helps manage Vinson & Elkins’ firmwide pro bono program.
Partner, Jones Day
Brian Rabbitt is a litigator with extensive experience handling complex investigations, enforcement matters, civil litigation, and appellate matters at the highest levels of government. He represents clients in high-stakes matters involving the Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Congress, and state attorneys general, as well as in internal investigations. Brian has been recognized as a leading white collar and investigations lawyer by Law360, The National Law Journal, and Chambers USA, which describes him as "smart, practical, and [having] great judgment."
Prior to joining Jones Day, Brian was the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ's Criminal Division, where he led hundreds of prosecutors responsible for investigating and prosecuting white collar cases (including securities, commodities, and health care fraud), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, and money laundering (AML), public corruption, computer crime, intellectual property, and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) matters. Under Brian's leadership, the Criminal Division resolved several of the most significant corporate criminal matters in DOJ history; prosecuted billions of dollars in health care fraud; and led the government's response to COVID-19-related stimulus fraud.
Before heading the Criminal Division, Brian served as Chief of Staff to the Attorney General at DOJ, in senior enforcement and policy roles at the SEC, and in the White House Counsel's Office, where he advised on investigations, congressional oversight, and financial regulatory policy. Brian began his career at a leading Washington law firm, where his practice focused on complex civil litigation and government investigations and enforcement matters.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice
Harmeet K. Dhillon is the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. She was nominated by President Donald Trump in December 2024. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 3, 2025, and sworn in as AAG by Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 7, 2025.
Prior to joining the Division, Ms. Dhillon founded both the Dhillon Law Group, Inc., a successful legal practice with offices in California, Florida, Virginia, and New Jersey; and the Center for American Liberty, a nonprofit organization dedicated to pursuing civil liberties legal claims. Her law practice focused on First Amendment / free speech, civil rights, and campaign and election law issues. Among her many notable cases, Ms. Dhillon brought legal challenges against the University of California, Berkeley over its free speech policy, against an Antifa organization for an assault on a conservative journalist, against several states for their restrictive responses to Covid-19, and against various large tech companies for a host of civil rights issues.
Assistant Attorney General Dhillon was born in Chandigarh, India, and lived in London before moving to The Bronx, New York. Her family ultimately settled in rural Smithfield, North Carolina. After graduating high school at age 16, Ms. Dhillon attended Dartmouth College where she became editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Review. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Classical Studies, she attended the University of Virginia School of Law and served on the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review. She later clerked for the Honorable Paul V. Niemeyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Baltimore, Maryland.
Shareholder, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Allen Grunes skillfully navigates the full spectrum of competition law issues. From proactively analyzing mergers and acquisitions to guiding clients through the antitrust review process, he provides experienced antitrust counsel. At Brownstein, he often assists clients in developing government relations and public relations strategies in high-profile matters. His clients have included Fortune 500 companies, start-ups and small businesses, consumer advocacy groups and labor unions.
Allen previously spent more than a decade at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, where he led many merger and civil non-merger investigations in radio, television, newspapers, motion pictures and other industries. He was part of the litigation team in a number of important cases brought by the United States, including U.S. v. Alex Brown & Sons. In private practice, he has worked as special counsel for the State of Ohio and has served as class counsel for a class of temporary nurses in Arizona. He is a recent past president of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia and a member of the Barristers.
Partner, Antitrust and Competition, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Maureen Ohlhausen is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she advises industry-leading clients on complex antitrust and litigation matters, with a focus on high-profile cases. Sought after for her depth of experience on antitrust and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)-related issues, Maureen is known for her relationships with officials in the U.S. and abroad.
After finishing law school and clerking at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Maureen joined the FTC in 1997. She held a series of roles at the agency over the next 12 years, rising to the position of Director of the FTC Office of Policy Planning, where she led the agency’s work on e-commerce and headed the FTC’s Internet Access Task Force, which produced an influential report analyzing competition and consumer protection legal issues in the broadband and internet sectors. She then went into private practice at a leading telecommunications law firm, where she headed the FTC practice group.
In 2012, Maureen was confirmed by the Senate as a Commissioner of the FTC and was appointed Acting Chairman in January 2017, a role she held until May 2018. As Acting Chairman, Maureen directed all aspects of the agency’s antitrust work, including merger review, conduct enforcement, and all consumer protection enforcement, with an emphasis on privacy and technology issues. Under her leadership, the FTC won several influential merger challenges in court and reached a number of key digital privacy settlements.
To date, Maureen is the only FTC Commissioner to have received the Robert Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to the FTC.
Following the end of her term at the FTC, and immediately prior to joining Wilson Sonsini, Maureen was chair of the global antitrust and competition practice at Baker Botts, based in that firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
A recognized thought leader, Maureen is a frequent author and speaker, and is often quoted by leading print and broadcast media on antitrust, FTC, and privacy and data security matters. She has published dozens of articles on antitrust, privacy, intellectual property, regulation, FTC litigation, telecommunications, and international law issues in prestigious publications. During her tenure at the FTC and in private practice, she testified more than two dozen times before Congress, including before the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Antitrust Sub-Committee. She also testified before the Antitrust Modernization Commission.
Antitrust Partner, White & Case
Rahul Rao is a partner in the Global Antitrust Practice at White & Case and the former Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition. He advises clients on merger clearance, government investigations, antitrust litigation, and regulatory strategy, with particular depth in healthcare, life sciences, private equity, retail, and labor markets.
At the FTC, Rahul led major merger and conduct investigations, supervised enforcement in critical sectors, and helped shape landmark policy initiatives, including the revised Merger Guidelines and the Commission’s noncompete rulemaking. Earlier, he helped establish the Washington State Attorney General’s Antitrust Division as a national leader in labor market competition enforcement.
Having served on both the federal and state enforcement front lines, Rahul brings clients a unique understanding of agency priorities, risk profiles, and strategies for navigating today’s increasingly dynamic antitrust environment.
Counsel, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP; Senior Competition Counsel, TechFreedom
Bilal Sayyed represents clients before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in significant merger, civil and criminal antitrust matters. A significant portion of his practice involves representing investment funds on antitrust and Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act compliance matters; he has also provided expert witness services related to HSR compliance. Bilal also counsels clients before the FTC in consumer protection and privacy investigations. He maintains an active amicus and appellate brief writing practice in antitrust litigation and antitrust merger matters.
Prior to joining Cadwalader, Bilal was the Director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning (OPP) (2018-2021). In that role, he provided legal and policy advice to the Chairman and Commissioners on antitrust and consumer protection matters and worked closely with the senior and career leadership of the FTC’s Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection, and Economics. Bilal previously served as an Attorney Advisor to FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris from 2001 to 2004. In that role, Bilal advised the Chairman on matters involving a wide spectrum of industries, including chemical and mining, petroleum and natural gas, health care and pharmaceutical, defense and transportation, gaming, various consumer products and retail operations, and professional associations and standard-setting organizations.
Bilal has taught antitrust and competition law at the George Mason University School of Law since 2011.
Bilal received his B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the State of New York, as well as before the U.S. District Courts for the District of Colorado and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Fifth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bilal is the host of Rethinking Antitrust, a podcast published by TechFreedom that examines the economics, institutions, law, legislation, and policy goals of antitrust enforcement.
President, Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies
Lawrence J. Spiwak is President of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that studies broad public-policy issues related to governance, social and economic conditions, with a particular emphasis on the law and economics of the digital age. Mr. Spiwak is a prolific scholar whose work is frequently cited by policymakers, major news media and academic journals around the world, and is in the top 1.3%of authors downloaded on the Social Science Research Network. Mr. Spiwak currently serves as the co-chair of the Federal Communications Bar Association’s (FCBA) committee responsible for overseeing the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS LAW JOURNAL and is a member of the program committee of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (“TPRC”). Mr. Spiwak is also the recipient of the FCBA’s Distinguished Service Award. Prior to joining the Phoenix Center, Mr. Spiwak was a Senior Attorney with the Competition Division in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel from 1994-1998. While in college, Mr. Spiwak was accepted into the Presidential Stay-In School program where he was responsible for delivering classified and confidential material among senior White House and Reagan Administration officials and received a full FBI security clearance. Mr. Spiwak received his B.A. with Special Honors from the George Washington University and his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Mr. Spiwak is a member in good standing of the bars of New York, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Partner, Vinson & Elkins LLP
Fry Wernick is a Chambers-rated lawyer and former federal prosecutor who serves as a partner in the Government Investigations and White Collar Practice Group in the firm’s Washington, D.C. and Dallas offices.
As a former federal prosecutor and supervisor of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Fraud Section with experience as lead attorney in over 30 trials, Fry has a broad range of white collar enforcement and courtroom experience. Fry regularly conducts internal investigations and defends companies and individuals against government investigations into a broad range of conduct and he has specific experience prosecuting and defending cases involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-money laundering (AML) statutes, the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the False Claims Act (FCA), sanctions, campaign finance laws, and other fraud, consumer protection and corruption-related offenses. Fry also has extensive experience representing clients and appearing before numerous alphabet agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Department of Education (ED) and other regulators and investigative bodies. Fry also draws on his experience as a former counsel to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary to help prepare and defend companies and individuals facing inquiries and investigations by Congress.
An important part of Fry’s practice is advising publicly traded and privately held companies on transactional risk, particularly concerning business transactions in emerging markets, and he helps companies develop effective compliance programs. Fry also understands all aspects of crisis management, and he draws on his extensive experience to tailor and coordinate sophisticated responses to investigations and inquiries from governmental, legislative and media sources in order to minimize the potential for legal and reputational risk for his clients.
As a former supervisor in DOJ’s FCPA Unit, Fry is one of the few former federal prosecutors who has actually prosecuted violations of the FCPA, and he has keen insight into how the Department of Justice prioritizes and investigates cases involving alleged violations of the FCPA and other white collar crimes. At DOJ, Fry led and supervised dozens of the Department’s most high-profile cases, including six of the largest-ever FCPA corporate criminal resolutions and dozens of individual prosecutions. Fry has extensive experience negotiating corporate settlements. including DPAs, NPAs and declinations under the recent revisions to the Department’s Corporate Enforcement Policy. In addition, Fry has conducted multiple cross-border criminal investigations and coordinated resolutions with multiple foreign and domestic government authorities, and he has developed an advanced understanding of how foreign regulators enforce the U.K. Bribery Act, the French Sapin II, and other anti-bribery laws.
Fry is a thought leader on the FCPA and white collar matters and he is frequently published and quoted in the press, including recently by the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Law 360, Global Investigations Review, The Anti-Corruption Report, The FCPA Professor, Energy Voice and other publications. Fry also has been recognized by Chambers USA, Legal 500, Lawdragon 500 and Who’s Who Legal for his investigations and white collar practice, and Law360 named Fry a “2021 Compliance MVP.”
In 2022, Fry took over as the firm’s Pro Bono Partner where he helps manage Vinson & Elkins’ firmwide pro bono program.
Partner, Jones Day
Brian Rabbitt is a litigator with extensive experience handling complex investigations, enforcement matters, civil litigation, and appellate matters at the highest levels of government. He represents clients in high-stakes matters involving the Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Congress, and state attorneys general, as well as in internal investigations. Brian has been recognized as a leading white collar and investigations lawyer by Law360, The National Law Journal, and Chambers USA, which describes him as "smart, practical, and [having] great judgment."
Prior to joining Jones Day, Brian was the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ's Criminal Division, where he led hundreds of prosecutors responsible for investigating and prosecuting white collar cases (including securities, commodities, and health care fraud), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, and money laundering (AML), public corruption, computer crime, intellectual property, and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) matters. Under Brian's leadership, the Criminal Division resolved several of the most significant corporate criminal matters in DOJ history; prosecuted billions of dollars in health care fraud; and led the government's response to COVID-19-related stimulus fraud.
Before heading the Criminal Division, Brian served as Chief of Staff to the Attorney General at DOJ, in senior enforcement and policy roles at the SEC, and in the White House Counsel's Office, where he advised on investigations, congressional oversight, and financial regulatory policy. Brian began his career at a leading Washington law firm, where his practice focused on complex civil litigation and government investigations and enforcement matters.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice
Harmeet K. Dhillon is the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. She was nominated by President Donald Trump in December 2024. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 3, 2025, and sworn in as AAG by Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 7, 2025.
Prior to joining the Division, Ms. Dhillon founded both the Dhillon Law Group, Inc., a successful legal practice with offices in California, Florida, Virginia, and New Jersey; and the Center for American Liberty, a nonprofit organization dedicated to pursuing civil liberties legal claims. Her law practice focused on First Amendment / free speech, civil rights, and campaign and election law issues. Among her many notable cases, Ms. Dhillon brought legal challenges against the University of California, Berkeley over its free speech policy, against an Antifa organization for an assault on a conservative journalist, against several states for their restrictive responses to Covid-19, and against various large tech companies for a host of civil rights issues.
Assistant Attorney General Dhillon was born in Chandigarh, India, and lived in London before moving to The Bronx, New York. Her family ultimately settled in rural Smithfield, North Carolina. After graduating high school at age 16, Ms. Dhillon attended Dartmouth College where she became editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Review. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Classical Studies, she attended the University of Virginia School of Law and served on the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review. She later clerked for the Honorable Paul V. Niemeyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Baltimore, Maryland.
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Closing Address
Washington, DCClosing Address
Harmeet K. Dhillon
Featuring: Hon. Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice