The 26th Annual Antitrust Symposium took place on Friday, February 24 in person at the Antonin Scalia Law School in Arlington, Virginia. This Antitrust Symposium provided a unique opportunity to hear a wide range of perspectives on antitrust law and competition from academic leaders, practitioners, economic scholars, lawyers, judges, enforcers, agency heads, and other experts across the international antitrust community!
Please see the videos of all the panel sessions below as well as the full agenda with session descriptions and speaker info. (Videos are also available on our YouTube channel.)
Panel 1: Antitrust and Labor Markets
Speakers (l-r): Lauren Stiroh, Eric A. Posner, Derek W. Moore, Dennis W. Carlton, and Moderator Bruce H. Kobayashi.
Panel 2: Updated Merger Guidelines
Speakers (l-r): Bruce H. Kobayashi, Michelle Yost Hale, Debbie Feinstein, George S. Cary, and Moderator Abbott (Tad) Lipsky Jr.
Panel 3: Antitrust and Big Tech: What’s Next?
Speakers (l-r): Claire Chunying Xie, Matt Stoller, Bilal Sayyed, Geoffrey A. Manne, and Moderator John M. Yun
Panel 4: Wu, Kanter & Khan: Grading the Biden Administration’s Antitrust Agenda
Speakers (l-r): David P. Wales, Noah Joshua Phillips, Maureen K. Ohlhausen, Darren Bush, and Moderator Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg.
8:00 – 8:50 a.m.
Breakfast, Van Metre Multipurpose Room
9:00 – 9:10 a.m.
Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:10 – 10:30 a.m.
Panel 1: Antitrust and Labor Markets
This panel examines the current and recent state of antitrust in labor markets, including its use to address labor monopsony in mergers, no-poach and non-solicitation agreements between employers, and the use of antitrust law to regulate non-competition agreements and other restrictive contractual clauses in labor agreements.
Dennis W. Carlton, Senior Managing Director, Compass Lexecon; David McDaniel Keller Professor of Economics Emeritus, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Derek W. Moore, Senior Counsel, Lodestar Law & Economics
Eric A. Posner, Kirkland & Ellis Distinguished Service Professor of Law, The University of Chicago Law School
Lauren Stiroh, Managing Director, NERA Economic Consulting, Inc.
Moderator: Bruce H. Kobayashi, Paige V. and Henry N. Butler Chair in Law and Economics, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
10:50 am – 12:10 p.m.
Panel 2: Updated Merger Guidelines
This panel examines the future of merger policy at the federal agencies and consider the likely fallout from the impending collision of the Neo-Brandeisian forces with the courts, the antitrust bar, the business community and the economy.
George S. Cary, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Debbie Feinstein, Partner, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
Michelle Yost Hale, Partner, Antitrust and Competition, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Bruce H. Kobayashi, Paige V. and Henry N. Butler Chair in Law and Economics, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Moderator: Abbott (Tad) Lipsky, Jr., Director of the Competition Advocacy Program, Global Antitrust Institute; Adjunct Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
12:10 – 1:30 p.m.
Luncheon Conversation with Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, Commissioner, US Federal Trade Commission
1:45 – 3:05 p.m.
Panel 3: Antitrust and Big Tech: What’s Next?
This panel examines the ever-changing competition policy landscape involving large digital platforms, including the litany of conduct alleged to give rise to antitrust violations, theories of harm emphasizing potential and nascent competition, labor market impacts, and, even, “toxic” or “predatory” innovation. The panel explores the analytical foundations of these theories, as well as recent litigation and legislative proposals implicating them.
Geoffrey A. Manne, President and Founder, International Center for Law and Economics (ICLE)
Bilal Sayyed, Senior Competition Counsel, TechFreedom
Matt Stoller, Director of Research, American Economic Liberties Project
Claire Chunying Xie, Associate Director, NERA Economic Consulting, Inc.
Moderator: John M. Yun, Deputy Executive Director, Global Antitrust Institute; Associate Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
3:20 – 4:40 p.m.
Panel 4: Wu, Kanter & Khan: Grading the Biden Administration’s Antitrust Agenda
This panel evaluates the Biden administration’s performance in carrying out its ambitious antitrust agenda. From President Biden’s broad sweeping Executive Order on Promoting Competition laying out his plan to reinvigorate antitrust law, to appointing new leadership at the FTC and DOJ with a clear mission to increase enforcement, the mission statement is clear. From litigation to legislation to new Guidelines and rulemaking, we take stock of the last two years, evaluate wins and losses, and predict what comes next.
Darren Bush, Leonard B. Rosenberg Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
Maureen K. Ohlhausen, Partner & Firmwide Section Chair of Antitrust & Competition Law, Baker Botts LLP
Noah Joshua Phillips, Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
David P. Wales, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Moderator: Senior Circuit Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
4:40 – 4:50 p.m.
Closing Remarks
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Reception, Van Metre Hall Multipurpose Room