2025 Golden State Institute

Qianwei Fu is a partner in the Oakland office of Zelle LLP.  Her practice focuses on representing consumers and opt-out claimants in antitrust cartel and monopolization cases.  Her practice spans across various industries, including technology, automotive, transportation, energy, financial, and pharmaceuticals.  Qianwei has played a primary role in all critical stages of litigation in some of the nation’s largest antitrust cases, routinely collaborating with economic and industry experts on damages and pass-on issues.

Qianwei leads the firm’s international competition law practice, and has collaborated with co-counsel in Canada, China, and Europe to secure recoveries for multinational corporations.  In addition to her antitrust practice, she provides counseling in complex commercial disputes, data privacy matters, and insurance class action defense.  Qianwei is a past Chair of the California Lawyers Association Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section and currently serves as an Advisor of the Section.

Jill M. Manning is a Mediator, Arbitrator, Special Master, Neutral Evaluator and Discovery Referee at JAMS.  Prior to joining JAMS, Ms. Manning represented clients in class action and complex litigation matters in a wide variety of fields, including antitrust and competition, consumer protection, cybersecurity and privacy, and sports matters. In addition to her ADR practice at JAMS, Ms. Manning serves as a neutral for the various state and federal courts, including the Northern and Central Districts of California. Ms. Manning is presently serving a two-year term as Vice-President of the California Lawyers Association and is a former Chair of the Executive Committee of the Antitrust & Consumer Protection Section.

Catherine Simonsen is a Partner and Co-Founder of Simonsen Sussman LLP, a boutique plaintiff-side antitrust and unfair competition law firm.  She has over a decade of experience investigating and litigating government and private antitrust cases on both the plaintiff and defense sides in federal and California state courts.  Prior to co-founding the firm, Catherine served as the Assistant Regional Director for the Western Competition Group at the Federal Trade Commission, where she managed several merger and conduct investigations and complaint preparation.  Before joining the FTC, Catherine served as a Deputy Attorney General in the Antitrust Section of the California Attorney General’s office.  Prior to her government enforcement roles, Catherine was a partner in private practice, where she successfully prosecuted numerous competitor suits under federal and state antitrust laws.  Catherine clerked for the Honorable J. Jerome Farris of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable John C. Coughenour of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.  She holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. from Stanford University.

Gary is a partner with Hausfeld splitting time between San Francisco and San Diego, focusing on complex federal antitrust litigation. Over the last decade of practice, Gary has recovered over $1 billion for clients that were the victims of antitrust violations. The Legal 500 has identified Gary as a “key name in California” for antitrust litigation and described Gary as “creative and intellectually nimble,” “a practical and effective litigator,” “a pleasure to work with,” and “a very skilled advocate” that “takes his professional and ethical obligations seriously.” Among many active cases, Gary is presently represents the plaintiffs in In re RealPage, Inc. Rental Software Antitrust Litigation. 

Gary has been honored as a Rising Star Under 40 in Healthcare Law by Law360 (2017), a Rising Star in Antitrust Litigation (2017 to 2022) and a Super Lawyer for Antitrust Litigation (2023-2024), a Trailblazer by the Legal Intelligencer (2019), an Honoree on Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under List (2023 to 2024), a recipient of the American Antitrust Institute’s Outstanding Achievement in Private Law Practice Award (2023), and was named to Best Lawyers Ones to Watch list for Antitrust (2025).

Gary is also committed to legal scholarship, the development of the antitrust laws, and serving the community through pro bono work. Gary has authored numerous articles on competition issues and the legal profession, including for the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Young Lawyers Division, the ABA’s Health Care Chronicle, and most notably, contributing to the ABA Antitrust Section’s seminal publication, Antitrust Law Developments. As a former Chair of the Committee to Support the Antitrust Law’s (COSAL) Amicus Committee, Gary has authored or contributed to amicus filings across the circuit courts and in the Supreme Court seeking to advance competition law policies. And on the pro bono front, Gary has represented victims of clergy sexual abuse that received settlement offers from the Philadelphia Archdiocese. For this and other pro bono work, Gary and Hausfeld’s Philadelphia office received the Philadelphia Bar Foundation’s 2019 Pro Bono Award.

Jeff VanHooreweghe is a partner at Wilson Sonsini and vice chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Group, where he leads high-stakes civil and criminal antitrust matters both domestically and internationally, including criminal grand jury investigations, civil investigations, private litigation, and compliance counseling. With a track record of advising Fortune 500 companies and emerging industry leaders, Jeff provides invaluable counsel on complex antitrust matters that can have significant financial and reputational impact. Drawing on his extensive experience at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, Jeff brings a wealth of knowledge to help his clients navigate some of the most sensitive and challenging antitrust issues. Jeff is also an adjunct professor at UC Law San Francisco, where he teaches antitrust law. Jeff received his A.B. in Economics and History from Washington University and J.D. from Catholic University of America.

Bryn Williams is an attorney in the Colorado Department of Law where he manages the Antitrust unit as they investigate and litigate violations of state and federal competition law. Prior to that position, he served in the Defense, Industrials, and Aerospace Section at DOJ Antitrust. Before turning to public service, Bryn worked for two mid-size firms in California where he represented plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of complex civil disputes, patent litigation, product counseling, and regulatory matters. Before becoming a lawyer, Bryn earned a Ph.D. in archaeology from Stanford University.