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Antitrust Lawyer of the Year

Each year, the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section honors an Antitrust Lawyer of the Year at a dinner that follows the annual Golden State Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Institute. The award acknowledges that attorney’s achievements, contributions, and advancements in the field of antitrust and unfair competition law.

Nominations are now open for the 2024 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.

2023 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Bonny Sweeney

Bonny Sweeney

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the California Lawyers Association is pleased to honor Bonny E. Sweeney of the United States Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division as the 2023 “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.” The Section will honor Bonny on October 26, 2023 at our Antitrust Lawyer of the Year dinner following the Golden State Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Institute.

Born in Wenatchee, Washington, Bonny grew up in a rural part of the Puget Sound area. She began her working career at age 11, picking berries and delivering newspapers on her beloved horse Snowball.  Bonny’s love of horses led her to work at a local racetrack, grooming race horses and mucking out stalls.  Bonny majored in Political Science at Whittier College and then, after studying Chinese at Beijing’s Language Institute, completed a Master’s Degree in Chinese Politics at Cornell University.  She earned her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University but spent half of her law school tenure at Stanford and Harvard.

Bonny began her legal career as a litigation associate at Foley, Hoag, and Eliot in Boston and started specializing in antitrust law after moving to California.  She worked for Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd and a predecessor law firm in San Diego for many years, first as an associate and then as a partner, before joining Hausfeld LLP in 2015, where she served as a managing partner and co-chair of the antitrust practice.  While in private practice, Bonny served as lead or co-lead counsel for plaintiff classes in numerous antitrust cases, including In re Payment Card Antitrust Litigation, In re Packaged Seafood Antitrust Litigation, In re Parking Heaters Antitrust Litigation, In re Aftermarket Automotive Lighting Antitrust Litigation, and others.  Bonny has tried several antitrust cases to a verdict, including the landmark Section 1 case brought by college coaches challenging the NCAA’s restricted earnings rule, Law/Hall/Schreiber v. NCAA.

After a successful private practice, Bonny joined the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice as Senior Trial Counsel in 2022.  At the Antitrust Division, Bonny has investigated several conduct matters and was a member of the trial team in United States v. American Airlines and JetBlue Airways, in which the United States and several states and commonwealths successfully challenged the airlines’ Northeast Alliance under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

A former Chair of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section, Bonny is also active in the ABA’s Antitrust Law Section and serves on the Advisory Boards of the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies at Loyola University and the American Antitrust Institute. Bonny frequently speaks and writes on diverse antitrust topics and previously served as Adjunct Professor at the University of San Diego School of Law.

When not editing briefs or preparing for trial, Bonny enjoys hiking, mountaineering, golfing, and baking with her husband David, her sons Ben and Sam, and her dog Rusty.

Past Antitrust Lawyers of the Year

2022 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Elizabeth Pritzker
Elizabeth Pritzker

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the California Lawyers Association is pleased to honor Elizabeth C. Pritzker of Pritzker Levine LLP as the 2022 “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.” The Section will honor Elizabeth on November 10, 2022, at our Antitrust Lawyer of the Year dinner following our Golden State Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Institute.

Elizabeth has been a leading plaintiffs-side antitrust attorney for over two decades, establishing herself in key roles in the In re DRAM Antitrust Litigation, the In re SRAM Antitrust Litigation, and the California Natural Gas Antitrust Cases.

In 2007, Judge Susan Illston appointed Elizabeth to serve as Liaison Counsel for the Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs in the In Re TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation. Since then, she has held lead roles representing plaintiff classes in antitrust cases throughout the United States, including as Class Counsel in Il Fornaio (America) Corporation v. Lazzari Fuel Company, LLC et al., as Additional Class Counsel in the In Re NCAA Grant-in-Aid Antitrust Litigation, as Co-Lead Class Counsel in the In re: EpiPen (Epinephrine Injection, USP) Marketing, Sales Practices and Antitrust Litigation, as Co-Lead Class Counsel in Al’s Discount Plumbing, LLC et al., v. Viega, LLC, and as Liaison Counsel for the Consumer Class in the In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation.

Elizabeth also has served on other plaintiffs’ leadership teams, representing end-user plaintiffs in the In re Packaged Seafood Antitrust Litigation, indirect purchaser plaintiffs in Wood Mountain Fish LLC et al, v. Mowi ASA (aka Marine Harvest) and the In re Keurig Green Mountain Single-Serve Coffee Antitrust Litigation, and direct purchaser plaintiffs in In re Lithium Ion Rechargeable Batteries Antitrust Litigation and In re Transpacific Passenger Air Transportation Antitrust Litigation, among others.

Elizabeth is a past Chair of the Antitrust and UCL Section of the California Lawyers Association. Before serving as Chair, she was Editor-in-Chief of the Section’s Competition journal, presented at the Golden State Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Institute, and authored articles for Competition and E-Briefs, News and Notes. Elizabeth currently serves as an Advisor to the Section, and remains active in the Section’s diversity and mentoring programs.

In addition to her work for the Section, Elizabeth has a long history of volunteer service to the legal community. She currently serves as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Conference Executive Committee, and previously served as a Lawyer Representative to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California; on the Board of Governors of Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC); and as a board member of the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF).

Increasing diversity in the legal profession has been one of Elizabeth’s interests and goals for many years. She was instrumental in creating the Section’s Inclusion & Diversity Fellowship and increasing the Section’s focus on ensuring diversity on the Executive Committee and during Section events. Elizabeth co-founded a majority women law firm, and served for many years as a board member of BALIF (Northern California’s LGBTQI+ Minority Bar Association), where she also headed up the judicial evaluations and mentoring committees. She has been an outspoken advocate for increasing diversity amongst the leadership in MDL and other large, complex cases pending in California and elsewhere.

In her spare time, Elizabeth and her wife, Patricia, split their time between Oakland and Palm Springs, enjoying the hiking, vibrant communities, and great food and wine that both locations have to offer.

2021 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Daniel M. Wall
Daniel M. Wall

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the California Lawyers Association is pleased to honor Daniel M. Wall of Latham & Watkins LLP as the 2021 “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.” Dan is widely recognized as one of the leading antitrust lawyers in the United States. Throughout 40 years in the antitrust bar, Dan has litigated landmark antitrust matters, including before the United States Supreme Court, as well as guided clients through cutting-edge government investigations and merger reviews.

Dan’s entire career has focused on antitrust. After graduation from Santa Clara Law in 1980, he joined the DOJ Antitrust Division, where he was assigned to the trial team in U.S. v. AT&T, the historic monopolization action that led to the break-up of the Bell System. After a short stint in the Washington D.C. office of Skadden, Arps, he returned to San Francisco in 1984 as an associate and later partner at McCutchen, Doyle Brown & Enersen. In 1999 he moved to Latham & Watkins, where over the past 20 years he has led Latham’s growth into one of the top antitrust practices in the world.

In acknowledging his selection, Dan cited the development of Latham’s antitrust practice as his proudest accomplishment. “We are now 44 antitrust partners in ten offices around the world. We are at the top of every ranking, we have developed many of the top women antitrust lawyers in the world, and the group is wonderfully cohesive. I get an award like this because of the incredible team around me.”

Dan’s practice has focused heavily on the Silicon Valley and the evolving field of “high-tech antitrust law.” The many cases he has handled over the years include monopolization claims against iconic tech companies such as Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Broadcom and Eastman Kodak. Dan has also had an active class action defense practice, for example representing BMW in the ongoing “Circle of Five” cases, and Union Pacific Railroad in In Re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation I & II. Dan represented Apple before the Supreme Court in Apple v. Pepper, the Court’s first consideration of how the Illinois Brick indirect purchaser rule applies to an e-commerce platform.

Unlike most antitrust litigators, Dan has also maintained an active mergers and acquisitions practice. He has represented clients in over 50 deals, including Live Nation’s merger with Ticketmaster, US Airways’ acquisition of American Airlines, Yahoo!’s sale of its search business to Microsoft, and Oracle’s acquisitions of PeopleSoft, Siebel Systems and Sun Microsystems. Dan has tried several merger challenges, most notably U.S. v. Oracle, the DOJ’s 2004 suit to block Oracle’s hostile takeover of PeopleSoft. The extremely high-profile case culminated in a month-long bench trial before Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, who rejected the DOJ’s case, principally concluding that DOJ’s market definition was flawed but also casting doubt on its competitive effects case. The decision was front page news and the National Law Journal named the matter its Top Defense Win of 2004.

Throughout his career Dan has been a prolific writer and speaker on antitrust issues. He was a founding editor of, and frequent contributor to, Antitrust magazine. He has taught or lectured on antitrust at Santa Clara Law, the Stanford Business School, and for the last three years at BerkeleyLaw, where he teaches a practice-oriented seminar on Mergers, Monopolization and Market Power.

2019 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Penelope A. Preovolos
Penelope Preovolos

The Antitrust, UCL and Privacy Section of the California Lawyers Association is pleased to honor Penelope Preovolos of Morrison Foerster LLP as the 2019 “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.” Penelope—known to her colleagues as Penny—is a leading antitrust and consumer protection lawyer, building a career in the defense bar at a time when few women could do so, let alone do so successfully. The award will be presented at a dinner and ceremony following the 2019 Golden State Institute beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Penny has spent decades representing defendants (and occasionally plaintiffs) in dozens of the most challenging antitrust and unfair competition class actions in California and around the country, including for example In re Cosmetics Industry Antitrust Litigation, In re Tableware Antitrust Litigation, American Booksellers Association v. Barnes & Noble, In re Kosher Food Products Antitrust Litigation, In re Industrial Gas Antitrust Litigation, In re Structured Settlement Brokers Antitrust Litigation, In re Ticketmaster Antitrust Litigation, and many more. Penny served as co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s antitrust practice for 14 years.

But it is not just Penny’s courtroom prowess that is cause for honors: Penny is a pioneer for women in the antitrust bar. She started at Morrison Foerster in 1980, and built her practice and reputation throughout the 1980s and 1990s, when very few women became partners at big law firms in the antitrust field. Shattering through that glass ceiling, she has served as a role model for women in the antitrust bar for decades. While there is still far more work to be done in bringing diversity to the antitrust bar, it is time to celebrate the achievements we have made, with Penny leading by example.

Penny’s leadership has not been limited to the courtroom and her firm. Penny has also served as one of the first women Chairs of this Section. She has also served on the Ninth Circuit Advisory Committee on Rules of Practice & Internal Operating Procedures.

View their interview here.

2018 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Bruce L. Simon
Bruce Simon

The Executive Committee of the Antitrust, UCL & Privacy Section of the California Lawyers Association is thrilled to announce its selection of Bruce L. Simon of Pearson, Simon & Warshaw, LLP as the 2018 “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.” For those who practice in the field of antitrust law, Bruce needs no introduction. He is one of the leading antitrust lawyers not just in California, but nationwide. He has been appointed lead counsel for plaintiffs in many antitrust cases with national and global impact, and has secured billions of dollars in settlements for businesses and consumers.

One of his particularly notable cases is In Re: Credit Default Swaps Antitrust Litigation, a case alleging a conspiracy among the world’s largest banks to maintain opacity of the credit default swaps market as a means of maintaining supra-competitive prices of bid/ask spreads. As Co-Lead Counsel, Bruce was instrumental in achieving a landmark settlement amounting to $1.86 billion. It is one of the largest civil antitrust settlements in history.

He was also one of the lead trial attorneys in the In Re: TFT-LCD Flat Panel Antitrust Litigation . In recent times, this is one of a handful of antitrust class actions that has gone to a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. The case was tried right here in the N.D. Cal, and resulted in a verdict of $87 million before trebling. Total settlements in the case amounted to $473 million.

Bruce has just been appointed co-lead counsel in In Re: German Automotive Manufacturers Antitrust Litigation . He represents indirect purchasers who allege collusion among the largest German car companies to stifle innovation, restrict supply and fix prices for their vehicles.

Bruce’s achievements are not limited to the courtroom. He is the former Chair of this Section and remains an advisor and active contributor. After Co-Chairing an ABA task force to increase participation of the plaintiffs’ bar in the Antitrust Section, and leading the Global Private Litigation Committee, Bruce is now on the Council. Bruce is also a past Chair of the Board of Directors of his alma mater, U.C. Hastings College of the Law, and served on the Board for 12 years.

Upon learning of his selection, Bruce stated, “I am so honored and humbled to be chosen. It is particularly poignant given the many friendships I have made during my service with the Section. “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” is built on the high quality and talent of all who participate in the Section, and in particular, those who have received the award in the past. Being associated with all of you has taught me so much and has always kept me on my toes.”

You will hear much more about Bruce at the “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” Dinner and Ceremony on November 8, 2018, at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in the Merchant Exchange Building in San Francisco. The Dinner and Ceremony will cap off what is shaping up to be a fantastic 28th Annual Golden State Institute, the preeminent competition law conference in the Western United States. Mark your calendars now!

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to submit nominations for the Antitrust Lawyer of the Year. The Executive Committee received many excellent nominations which made the decision all the more difficult. The process was a wonderful reminder of the bounty of accomplished antitrust lawyers who practice in California. On a personal note, I am particularly delighted the Executive Committee chose to bestow this honor on a fellow member of the plaintiffs’ bar. I know Bruce not just an eminently qualified antitrust lawyer with a noteworthy career, but as one heck of a nice guy!

Please join us in congratulating Bruce L. Simon on his selection as the 2018 “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year!”

Jill M. Manning
Chair, Executive Committee
Antitrust, UCL & Privacy Section

View their interview here.

2017 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Cheryl Lee Johnson
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The Antitrust, UCL and Privacy Section of the State Bar of California is pleased to honor Cheryl Lee Johnson as the 2017 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year. Cheryl, who is in the Antitrust Section of the California Department of Justice, is the Editor-in-Chief of the California Antitrust & Unfair Competition Law (Matthew Bender, publisher, and available online on Lexis and Westlaw) treatise, dating back to its original publication in 1991.  She chairs the National Association of Attorneys General Pharmacy Industry Working Group, and has handled numerous significant pharmaceutical cases, including Androgel,  DDAVP, Lidoderm, Suboxone, and Tricor, and has authored several amicus briefs before the United States Supreme Court and California Supreme Court on reverse payment and other pharmaceutical antitrust issues.

After graduating from Barnard College and Harvard Graduate School of Education, she received her law degree from  Columbia Law where she was on the Columbia Law Review and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Following law school, she was in private practice, and as a partner at Morrison & Foerster and Graham & James, she specialized in competition and  complex litigation. Since joining the Antitrust Section in 2006, she has handled a number of significant antitrust cases  and merger reviews involving healthcare, hospitals, supermarkets, automobile software, and the National Football League, and an extensive investigation of CalPer’s PBM contracting practices, in addition to her pharmaceutical work.

Cheryl is a past Chair of the State Bar Antitrust, UCL & Privacy Section Executive Committee,  frequent panel presenter at the Golden State Institute,  frequent contributor to the Competition Journal, member of the Sedona Conference on antitrust/patents, and co-chair of several PLI Markman seminars. A former President of the Half Norwegian (On Your Mother’s Side) American Bar Association, she also served on the Christopher Commission and Ramparts Investigation examining police use of force.  Among her extensive pro bono activities, Cheryl was the President of the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation for 6 years, an  elected representative to the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council, and Board member of the Ennis Brown Foundation, Women’s Care Cottage, and Los Feliz Neighborhood Association.  By way of personal background, Cheryl grew up in northern Washington state, and enjoys sports and running (particularly in North Korea), local Los Angeles history, creating salads, family and friends.

2016 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Paul Griffin

The Antitrust, UCL and Privacy Section of the State Bar of California is pleased to honor Paul R. Griffin as the 2016 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.

Paul Griffin, a “San Francisco Tier 1 antitrust lawyer,” according to U. S. News & World Report, is a partner in Winston & Strawn’s San Francisco office.  Paul is part of the Winston antitrust group which was awarded “2015 Team of the Year” in Cartel Defense by The Legal 500 and is “Highly Recommended” by Global Competition Review.  Before joining Winston where he has served as global antitrust Co-Chair, he served as Chair and Vice Chair of the antitrust practices at the Pillsbury and Thelen firms, respectively.

A graduate of Tufts University and the University of Michigan Law School, Paul began his legal career in 1976 as a staff attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition.  Since moving to San Francisco in 1978, he has been involved in a number of the largest and most significant antitrust cases filed in the last 38 years, including DRAM, SRAM, Optical Disk Drives, Lithium Ion Batteries, Marine Construction, Natural Gas, Cellular Telephone, Grocery, Petroleum Products, Toyota, Magnetic Iron Oxide, American Booksellers and Bell Atlantic v. AirTouch Cellular.  He has been a “Super Lawyer” every year since 2004, selected multiple times as one of the “The Best Lawyers in America,” named a San Francisco “Top Lawyer” by Corporate Counsel and is listed in the Guide to the World’s Leading Competition & Antitrust Lawyers.

Paul has served for the past 10 years as a member and advisor of the Executive Committee of the Section.  He was Vice Chair of Publications, is a co-author of the treatise California Antitrust and Unfair Competition, and has served a record four times as Master of Ceremonies for the Section’s annual Antitrust Lawyer of the Year dinner.  Among his other pro bono activities, Paul was President for 10 years and a Director for 20 years of the nonprofit San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, one of the nation’s leading contemporary music ensembles, and is currently counsel to ArtSeed, a nonprofit San Francisco arts organization working with inner-city children.

By way of personal background, Paul grew up in Traverse City, Michigan and the Washington D.C. area.  In his free time, Paul enjoys golf, travel, music, friends and family.

2015 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Craig Corbitt

Craig Corbitt has been an antitrust litigator for over 35 years.  He has been a partner of Zelle Hofmann in San Francisco for fifteen years, and before that worked for over twenty years at the former Furth Farhner & Mason.  He has been centrally involved in dozens of the most significant civil antitrust cases in the United States during his career. He has represented class plaintiffs in the LCD Flat Panel, Natural Gas, De Beers, Microsoft, Smokeless Tobacco, DRAM and Brand Name Prescription Drugs cases among many others; and has represented many corporate plaintiffs, including Kellogg Company in the Vitamins Antitrust Litigation and Santa Fe Southern Pacific in the AT&T monopolization litigation. Although primarily known as a plaintiffs’ lawyer, he has represented antitrust defendants including Georgia Pacific in the Plywood Antitrust Litigation, Kellogg Company in multiple cases, and Santa Fe in the ETSI pipeline litigation.

Craig is a former Chair of the California State Bar Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section, and is a Member of the Advisory Board of the American Antitrust Institute.  He is a co-author or contributing author to antitrust treatises of the AAI and the California State Bar, and has authored articles for Competition and other publications.  He is regularly honored for antitrust and competition law and litigation by the Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, The Litigation Counsel of America, Benchmark Litigators, Legal 500, and Global Competition Review’s Who’s Who Legal among others, and is a frequent panelist on antitrust, competition and litigation topics.

Craig is a graduate of U.C. Davis and the USF School of Law.  He is a board member of the San Francisco Legal Aid Society and the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society. In his spare time, Craig enjoys the wine country lifestyle at his Sonoma home, where he and his wife Nancy have an Old Vine Zinfandel vineyard.

2014 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Phillip H. Warren

Phillip H. Warren joined the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division in Washington, D.C. in 1980.  In 1984, he moved to the Division’s San Francisco Office, the only office in the country with major responsibility for criminal and civil antitrust enforcement.  There he was Assistant Chief from 1997 to 2002 and Chief from 2002 to January 2014.

Mr. Warren led or supervised grand jury investigations of dozens of international cartels in widely varying industries, including many commodity chemicals and high-technology products such as DRAM, TFT-LCD panels, cathode ray tubes, optical disk drives, and lithium ion battery cells.  He was lead attorney on the first seven criminal international cartel cases the Office filed, including the citric acid price-fixing case, U.S. v. Archer Daniels Midland Co.  From 1997 to 2013, he oversaw more than 40 international cartel case filings in which the Office secured criminal fines totaling almost $3 billion.  He also closely supervised domestic criminal investigations, including filings in 2011-13 of more than 50 cases and plea agreements charging bid rigging on real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.  Mr. Warren served as lead attorney on U.S. v. All Star Industries and U.S. v. Guthrie, and supervised many other criminal trials, including the prosecutions in 2012-13 of U.S. v. AU Optronics Corp., U.S. v. Leung, and U.S. v. Bai, three trials of alleged conspirators in the TFT-LCD panel cartel.

For more than 15 years, Mr. Warren worked closely with Antitrust Division management in Washington, D.C. in developing the Division’s international cartel enforcement policies, including application of the Division’s Leniency Policy, policies for negotiating plea terms with corporations and executives, and practices for coordinating investigations with foreign enforcement authorities.

For the past 35 years, the San Francisco Office has had responsibility for reviewing premerger filings.  Since early 2000, the Office has been responsible for the review of filings involving California-based firms in designated high-technology industries.  Mr. Warren led or played leadership roles in several merger investigations resulting in case filings that blocked transactions, including Worldcom’s proposed acquisition of Sprint Corp, U.S. v. Worldcom, Inc. and Sprint Corp., and France Telecom and Deutsch Telekom’s proposed acquisition of $3.5 billion in stock of Sprint Corporation, U.S. v. Sprint/France Telecom/Deutsche Telekom.  He also served on several merger trial teams, including U.S. v. Sungard Data Systems, U.S. v. Rank Industries, and U.S. v. Rice Growers Association.  As Chief, he oversaw all of the Office’s civil work, including preliminary inquiries and Second Requests of proposed transactions that raised potential competitive issues.

Mr. Warren is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Attorney General Award for Distinguished Service (2012) (for successful prosecution of U.S. v. AU Optronics), the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive (2009) (highest award given to career federal government Senior Executive Service members), the Department of Justice John Marshall Award for Participation in Litigation (1998), and the Antitrust Division Hugh P. Morrison Award for Exceptional Accomplishment as an Antitrust Litigator (1994).

Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Warren was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Law in the Public Interest in Los Angeles (1979-80) and a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala (1973-75).  He graduated from the UCLA School of Law and Santa Clara University.

2013 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Kathleen E. Foote

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California is pleased to honor Kathleen E. Foote as the 2013 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.  She has devoted the last 25 years of her career to public enforcement of our antitrust laws.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Kathleen Foote joined the California Department of Justice’s antitrust unit as a deputy attorney general in 1988, and has been its Antitrust Chief since 2001.  Litigation brought on behalf of California Attorney General under her leadership includes successful state law challenges to tying arrangements and resale price maintenance schemes, and a ground-breaking federal challenge to asserted antitrust exemption of an employer profit-sharing agreement in California v. Safeway, for which she received California Lawyer magazine’s Lawyer of the Year award in 2011.  Her team played a lead role in the Microsoft remedies case, and more recently in the TFT-LCD and DRAM Indirect Purchaser multistate cases.  She has led the State’s merger enforcement efforts in numerous industries including gasoline, banking, publishing and healthcare.  Her post-settlement work in Levi-Strauss established a research institute on healthcare markets, and in Hartford Fire Ins. V. California an institute on public sector risk management, and she has pioneered the development of best practices for cy pres distributions in other major consumer settlements.

Kathleen is currently chair of the multistate Antitrust Task Force of the National Association of Attorneys  General, which coordinates joint multistate and state-federal investigations and litigation.  She serves on the Advisory Board of the American Antitrust Institute and has been named recipient of its annual Alfred Kahn Award for Antitrust Achievement for 2013.  She is co-chair of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law’s State Enforcement Committee, and is a past Executive Committee member of the California State Bar’s Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section.

From 1981 until 1987 Kathleen was Associate Dean at University of San Francisco School of Law.  Prior to teaching, she spent three years as an associate attorney with the San Francisco law firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen (now Bingham).  She earned her undergraduate degree from Radcliffe in 1967 and her law degree from USF in 1975.

Kathleen has been active in community affairs, formerly serving as mayor of Mill Valley, trustee and board chair of the Marin Community Foundation, and youth soccer coach.  Currently in her spare time she plays tennis and listens to Chicago blues.

2012 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Terrance A. Callan

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California is pleased to honor Terrence A. Callan as the 2012 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.

Terry graduated with a B.A. from the University of San Francisco and a J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of the Law.  At Hastings, he was elected to the Order of the Coif, the Thurston Honor Society, and was on the law review.  Terry joined the firm then known as Pillsbury Madison & Sutro out of law school and has practiced antitrust law on a full-time basis for over 40 years.  He is a former Chair of Pillsbury’s Antitrust & Competition Practice Team.  He has handled  dozens of antitrust cases and Federal and State Grand Jury investigations and proceedings over the course of his career and has been prominently involved in many of the most significant ones across the country, including In re Brand Name Prescription Drugs, Carbon Fiber, Snack Foods, Synthroid Marketing, Fine Paper, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Thermal Fax Paper and Clayworth v. Pfizer.  Terry has been an antitrust lawyer for virtually his entire career, with the only exception being his first few years at Pillsbury in the mid-1960s when he was seconded to then Pacific Telephone & Telegraph as General Attorney.

Terry is a former Chair of the State Bar of California’s Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section Executive Committee, a long-time member of the Executive Committee and is currently an Advisor to the Section.  He and his wife, Gail, are fixtures at section events and goodwill ambassadors of the highest order.

Terry has been recognized as a preeminent antitrust lawyer by several leading legal and business publications, including Guide to the World’s Leading Competition and Antitrust Lawyers; PLC Cross-Border Competition Handbook; The Law and Leading Lawyers Worldwide Handbook; and Who’s Who in American Law. Terry has also been ranked as a leading lawyer in Legal 500 USA in the category of Antitrust.

In addition to his client and section work, Terry has worked on a number of pro bono matters and has served on a number of boards and committees for UC Hastings and the University of San Francisco.  He also has mentored several generations of antitrust attorneys over the years.
In their spare time, Terry, Gail and son Ryan are avid supporters of all things USF, and the San Francisco Giants and Forty Niners,

2011 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Joseph Cotchett

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California was pleased to honor Joseph W. Cotchett as the 2011 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.

Joe Cotchett has a legendary reputation for his courtroom accomplishments and is considered one of the country’s foremost trial lawyers by both plaintiff and defense attorneys. The National Law Journal has called him one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America. He is the senior partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP. Joe has dedicated much of his legal career to public justice with a prolific history of pro bono work. He has tried over 100 jury trials, including some of the largest antitrust cases. He represented the NFL and various teams in antitrust cases around the country and has tried antitrust cases in both Federal and State Courts. Joe and his firm have brought many large antitrust class action cases over the years, and have served as lead or co-lead class counsel in cases such as In re Citric Acid Litigation, In re International Air Transportation Surcharge Antitrust Litigation, and In re SRAM Antitrust Litigation, to name a few.

Joe has an engineering degree from California Polytech, and earned his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, an Advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates, and a former Master of the American Inns of Court. He has authored several books on law and serves on numerous boards and State Commissions. He is a former Colonel in the Army in both JAG and the Airborne Special Forces Reserves.

Joe has received the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice and the Anti-Defamation League’s Distinguished Jurisprudence Award, and has been honored by Disability Rights Advocates and inducted into the 2011 Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame.

2010 Lawyer of the Year Robert Pringle

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Section of the State Bar of California was pleased to honor Robert B. Pringle as the 2010 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.

Bob Pringle has been an icon of the antitrust defense bar in San Francisco and nationally for close to 40 years. Bob, a New Jersey native, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1966 and Duke University School of Law in 1969. After a brief teaching stint at Penn State University, Bob headed west to California and clerked on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1972, he joined the firm formerly known at Thelen Marrin Johnson & Bridges in San Francisco where he practiced for over 35 years and was Chair of the firm’s Antitrust Group for many years. In 2008, Bob and his antitrust team joined the San Francisco office of Winston & Strawn LLP where he is a partner. Bob Pringle’s practice focuses on antitrust and complex commercial litigation. Representing clients on a range of antitrust matters in state and federal courts and before administrative tribunals, he is particularly experienced handling cartel cases, civil class actions and criminal grand jury matters, contested mergers, tying and monopolization cases. He also has been involved in unfair competition, securities, trade secrets and other intellectual property claims, contract disputes, fraud and RICO claims. In addition, Pringle provides counseling and serves as special litigation counsel to corporate boards of directors, many of which are Fortune 200 and 500 companies in the United States and abroad.

Bob has been named multiple times in Chambers USA’s Guide to America’s Leading Business Lawyers, Best Lawyers in the United States, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law and San Francisco Magazine’s Super Lawyer list. In addition to being a member of the State Bar of California’s Antitrust and Unfair Competition Section, Bob is a member of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law, the ABA Section of Public Utility, Communications and Transportation Law, where he is a member of the Council and Chair of the Antitrust Committee, and the ABA Litigation Section. He is a lifetime member of the Board of Visitors of Duke University Law School.

In his scarce spare time, Bob enjoys racing his Porsche, fly fishing and playing golf. Together with his wife Becky, he is an avid fundraiser for a variety of charitable and civic causes.

2009 Lawyer of the Year Gene Crew

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Section was pleased to honor Gene Crew as the 2009 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year. The award will be presented at the 19th Annual Golden State Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Institute and Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Award Dinner, Thursday, October 22, 2009 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco.

Gene Crew has litigated antitrust cases for about 40 years of his career. He has tried many cases of all kinds, involving a wide range of industries and markets, in both federal and state courts throughout the country. While he has specialized in antitrust and unfair business practices litigation, Gene has tried many other types of commercial disputes as well. He has argued cases before the United States Supreme Court and numerous federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout the country.

Gene recently was lead counsel for plaintiffs in a class action that settled for $1.1 billion after four years of litigation against Microsoft under California’s antitrust and unfair competition laws. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of all California purchasers of Microsoft’s personal computer operating system and applications software and alleged that Microsoft used its unlawful monopoly power to overcharge California businesses and consumers for its software products. The settlement required Microsoft to pay up to $1.1 billion to the class and the bulk of any unclaimed funds to go to the California Department of Education for the purchase of computer products for California’s schools.

Most of Gene’s antitrust trial practice has been on behalf of competitors. He has frequently spoken and written about antitrust law and in favor of its vigorous enforcement, taught antitrust law at UC-Hastings College of Law for several years, and now teaches an advanced course on the relationship between Antitrust and Intellectual Property Law at both Hastings and the University of San Francisco. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

2008 Lawyer of the Year Mary Cranston

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California was pleased to honor Mary B. Cranston as the 2008 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.

Following her graduation from Stanford Law School in 1975, Ms. Cranston began her distinguished career by joining the firm then called Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro as one of its first female litigation associates. She has spent her entire career blazing trails at that firm, now called Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and in the antitrust field and the legal industry generally. Ms. Cranston was the first female litigation attorney promoted to partner at Pillsbury and one of the first female litigation partners anywhere in the nation. She later became the Chair of Pillsbury, the first female chair of any major U. S. law firm, and served as Chair of Pillsbury longer than anyone at that firm during the past 40 years. This year, she becomes the first female Antitrust Lawyer of the Year in the 17-year history of this award.

Ms. Cranston has tried numerous high-profile antitrust cases and has been a trusted counselor over the years to many Fortune 100 firms, including Pacific Telesis, AirTouch, SBC, AT&T and Chevron. She is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, is ranked as one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in the U. S.” by the National Law Journal and was named one of only five trial lawyers in San Francisco highly recommended by Global Counsel 3000. She has been selected numerous times as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers” in California. She is a past Chair of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section and a former Council member and officer of the American Bar Association Antitrust Section.

In addition to her lawyering and leadership skills, Ms. Cranston has been recognized nationally for her mentoring of younger lawyers, especially women. She is a recipient of the American Bar Association’s distinguished Margaret Brent Award given to women lawyers who have excelled in their field and paved the way for other women lawyers. She was also honored with the Athena Award given annually to a California businesswoman for lifetime business achievement while also encouraging other women to achieve their full leadership potential. Ms. Cranston has spoken at numerous women’s groups about visualizing success and achieving balance in all aspects of life. No other lawyer among us has done more to mentor and shape new generations of lawyers.

In the community, Ms. Cranston serves as a trustee of Stanford University and the San Francisco Ballet, as Chairman of the Commonwealth Club, and as a director of numerous public companies including VISA, Inc.

2007 Lawyer of the Year: Guido Saveri

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California was pleased to honor Guido Saveri as the 2007 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.

Guido Saveri, who began practicing in San Francisco in 1951, is frequently referred to by his colleagues as “the Dean of the Plaintiffs’ Antitrust Bar.” During his more than 50 years of practice, no antitrust lawyer has been more active, engaging or successful than Guido Saveri.

After graduating summa cum laude from the University of San Francisco, Mr. Saveri began his career as a defense lawyer with the firm then called Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro. He left Pillsbury eight years later and formed his own firm in 1959, Saveri & Saveri, Inc., which has been going strong for the past 47 years and counting.

Mr. Saveri has been involved, frequently as lead plaintiffs’ counsel or co-counsel, in more than a hundred antitrust cases and has achieved some of the best results in antitrust history. Mr. Saveri’s list of accomplishments is far too lengthy to recite, but as one example, his recent settlements on behalf of the direct purchaser class in the DRAM antitrust litigation totaled over $325 million. He has shaped many of the leading antitrust cases in U. S. history and his contributions to our profession are unsurpassed.

In addition to his distinguished career as a litigator, Mr. Saveri has testified before the Federal Judiciary Committee on antitrust matters, lectured before The Association of Trial Lawyers of America and other attorney associations, and written various periodicals on antitrust topics.

2006 Lawyer of the Year: Robert E. Cooper

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California was pleased to honor Robert E. Cooper as the 2006 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.

“[Bob] Cooper is perhaps the most admired antitrust litigator in California,” according to the Global Competition Review. In the course of Mr. Cooper’s long career as an antitrust and unfair competition litigator, he has had scores of major jury trials, including numerous “bet-the-company” cases. Described by clients and colleagues as “the prototypical gentleman lawyer,” Mr. Cooper has been with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP since 1964, when he graduated from the Yale School of Law; he currently is a senior partner of the firm, and Co-Chair of its Antitrust and Trade Regulation Practice Group.

Mr. Cooper is one of the nation’s premier antitrust litigators, and his trial record in antitrust cases is truly remarkable. Among his many courtroom successes, he achieved three consecutive victories for a major pharmaceuticals manufacturer in the antibiotics antitrust litigation, and later successfully defended American Airlines in three highly significant antitrust cases, with billions of dollars in collective liability at stake. Most notably, Mr. Cooper won summary judgment for the airline in a third action, instituted by the United States Department of Justice, alleging monopolization of American’s Dallas-Fort Worth hub. Based upon these and a string of other successes, Chambers USA observed that Mr. Cooper “has attracted most of the major cases in the last few years.” Other clients for whom Mr. Cooper has served as lead trial counsel include Hewlett- Packard, Sempra Energy, Intel, Ticketmaster, Honeywell, Northrop, Allergan, and Callaway Golf Company.

Mr. Cooper’s superb record has not gone unnoticed by colleagues and commentators; he is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and also recently was selected as one of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America. Mr. Cooper has received the top rating reserved for a handful of lawyers as a “star” antitrust lawyer – “the standard by which others are judged” — by Chambers USA — America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Finally, Mr. Cooper has been recognized as one of the world’s leading competition practitioners, commercial litigators, and business lawyers in The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers, The International Who’s Who of Commercial Litigators, and The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, respectively.

2005 Lawyer of the Year: Francis O. Scarpulla

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the California State Bar was pleased to honor Francis O. Scarpulla as the 2005 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year.

Mr. Scarpulla has been an antitrust and unfair competition litigator, primarily representing plaintiffs, for over 38 years.  After graduating from Hastings Law School in 1967, Mr. Scarpulla began his career as an associate in the law offices of former San Francisco Mayor, the late Joseph L. Alioto, winner of the 1993 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Award. After founding his own firm, Mr. Scarpulla pioneered the field of indirect purchaser lawsuits under the Cartwright Act and UCL.  He was lead counsel in numerous cases that established the law in this field including: St. Joe Paper Co. v. Superior Court (1981) 120 Cal. App 3rd 991 (state court antitrust jurisdiction), Union Carbide Corp. v. Superior Court (1984) 36 Cal 3d 15 (joinder of parties and fraudulent concealment), Crown Oil Corp. v. Superior Court (1986) 177 Cal App 3d 604 ( no federal preemption) and BWI Custom Kitchen v. Owens- Illinois, Inc. (1987) 191 Cal App 3d 1341 (class certification of indirect purchaser actions).   

Mr. Scarpulla has also been a leader in federal antitrust cases throughout the nation and has been named one of The Best Lawyers in America . Mr. Scarpulla served as chairman of the Section in 1991; during his term the Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Award Dinner was founded and the Section received a special commendation from the Board of Governor’s for its efforts to include women and minorities.  Mr. Scarpulla  is also an author of the Section’s treatise as well as a co-author of California Class Actions and Procedures . He has lectured extensively and been an Instructor at Hastings Law School and an Adjunct Professor of Antitrust Law at Golden Gate University Law School school.  He is a lifelong resident of San Francisco and an avid horseman.

2004 Lawyer of the Year: Thomas A. Papageorge

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California was pleased to honor Thomas A. Papageorge as the Antitrust Lawyer of the Year 2004.

Tom Papageorge has devoted his 27-year legal career to advancing the principles of antitrust and unfair competition law in many different roles — as a leading trade regulation prosecutor, law professor, prodigious author, legislative advocate, bar association leader, and featured speaker.

A graduate of UCLA and the Harvard Law School, Tom began his trade regulation career as trial attorney and Deputy Assistant Director of the Federal Trade Commission in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., to which agency he returned as Regional Director of the Los Angeles Regional Office in a leave of absence in 1991-1992. Since 1984 he has served as Head Deputy District Attorney of the Consumer Protection Division in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, where he supervises the antitrust, consumer protection, high technology crime, environmental, and criminal profiteering sections.

Tom has been lead counsel in more than 60 antitrust and unfair competition prosecutions, many of them groundbreaking. His major cases have included: the first felony conspiracy convictions under the Cartwright Act (People v. Progressive Produce, et al.); the then-largest antitrust criminal prosecution in California history in the eight-defendant case producing the first Cartwright Act felony jail sentence (People v. Waste Management, et al.); and the then-second largest consumer protection enforcement judgment in state history (the $10 million judgment in People v. Levitz Furniture/GE Capital).

Author or co-author of four books and more than twenty law review articles on antitrust and unfair competition topics, Tom’s treatise California White Collar Crime, 2 nd Ed. (Lexis/Matthew Bender, 2000), with Robert C. Fellmeth, is the principal reference work for California’s trade regulation prosecutors. Tom has been the antitrust and white collar crime adjunct professor at Whittier Law School since 1982, acting as Associate Dean in 1990-91.

2003 Lawyer of the Year: Tom Rosch

In 2003 at the Thirteenth Annual Lawyer of the Year Award Dinner, the Section honored Tom Rosch. Tom Rosch is the former managing partner of the San Francisco office of Latham & Watkins LLP. He is nationally regarded as one of the preeminent practitioners in the areas of antitrust and trade regulation law. He has been lead counsel in more than one hundred federal and state court antitrust cases and has successfully tried antitrust cases of all kinds — cases alleging monopolization and attempted monopolization; price discrimination, predatory pricing and illegal vertical restraints; class actions for price-fixing; and merger challenges.

He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Tom served as chair of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section in 1990 and also served as Chair of the California Bar Association’s Antitrust Section. He served as director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection from 1973 to 1975 and in 1989 was a member of the Special Committee to Study the Role of the Federal Trade Commission. He was invited to serve as an expert witness by both the President’s Commission On Revision of the Antitrust Laws and by the Federal Trade Commission in its hearings on Competitive Policy In A Global Economy.

Tom is currently a member of the advisory boards of the Practicing Law Institute and the Bureau of National Affairs Antitrust and Trade Regulation Reporter. He provides antitrust counseling to a variety of companies, is a frequent speaker at business and bar association programs and other symposia, and is the author of numerous publications on antitrust and trade regulation subjects. Tom is married with two children and four grandchildren and resides in Orinda, California. He obtained his BA magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1961 and his LLB from Harvard Law School in 1965, graduating cum laude. He was a Knox Fellow at Cambridge University in 1962.

2002 Lawyer of the Year: Don T. Hibner, Jr.

Don Hibner joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton in 1992, became a partner in 1968, and Of Counsel in 2002. He has specialized in antitrust litigation and economics since beginning work on the Western Concrete Pipe cases in 1964. In his 40 years antitrust career, he has litigated over 300 antitrust cases, involving a wide spectrum of issues. As a young associate, he authored a seminal article in the field of attempted monopolization, refuting the underpinnings of Lessig v. Tidewater Oil Co. The article, “Attempts to Monopolize: A Concept in Search of Analysis,” 34 ABA Antitrust L. J. 165 (1967), was widely cited in the federal courts, and provided the underpinning for the eventual overruling of Lessig in Spectrum Sports v. McQuillan.

This work lead to a number of law review articles on Section 2 issues, including the use of bad faith litigation as antitcompetitive acts. See, e.g.,”Oligopoly Under Attack: New Approaches to an Old Problem, ” 44 St. Johns L.Rev. 529 (1970); “Bigness and Pricing Problems,” 41 ABA Antitrust L.J. 1 (1972); Litigation as an Overt Act in Furtherance of an Attempt to Monopolize”, 38 Ohio St. L.J. 245 (1977).

Don has also written and lectured on a variety of vertical restraint, franchising, and government contracts antitrust issues. See, e.g.,”Antitrust Considerations Relating to Joint Ventures, Teaming Agreements, Co-Production Agreements and Leader-Follower Agreements,” 51 ABA Antitrust L.J. 705 (1982); “Franchise Protection: Laws Against Termination and the Establishment of Additional Franchises”, ABA Antitrust Section Monograph 17 (1990) (editor): “Franchisee Protection: ‘A Lion in the Street’ — Analysis of Small Business Franchise Act of 1998), Competition (2001). Don has also authored and delivered over 50 papers and monographs on a variety of antitrust and economics topics, through PLI, ALI-ABA, The Conference Board, and programs at the ABA, State Bar, and other specialty forums.

Among the cases he has litigated are Industrial Building Materials, Inc. v. Interchemical Corp., 437 F.2d 1336 (9th Cir. 1971) (allegations of injury to competition in dealer substitution case sufficient on summry judgment); Northrop Corp. v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 705 F.2d 1030 (9th Cir, 1983) (act of state doctrine, and governmental indispensibility not applicable to action for attempted monopoliication of multi-role military aircraft procurement market); Eagle v. Star-Kist Foods, Inc., 812 F.2d 538 (9th Cir. 1987 (fisherman lack standing as antitrust plaintiffs in action by vessel owners against canners for antitrust violations); Scripto-Tokai Corp., v. Gillette Co., 1994-2 Trade Cas. (CCH) para 70,821 (C.D. Cal. 1994) (evidence of sales below average variable cost insufficient to defeat summary judgment in attempted monopoliztion claim in alleged market for erasible ink pens); United Farmers Agents Ass’n v. Farmers Insurnce Exchange, 89 F.3d 233 (5th Cir. 1996) (summary judgement granted where relevant market alleged as electronic access to policy information rather than insurance sales); In re Toys R” Us Antitrust Litigation (JPML 2000).

Don has held a number of leadership roles within the ABA Antitrust Section, including membersihp on its Council, and Chairs of its Private Antitrust Litigation and Franchising and Distribution Law committees. He is a past Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Section on Antitrust Law and Trade Regulation, and an Advisor to the the State Bar Antitrust Law Section Executive Committee.

He received his B.A. in Philosophy from Stanford University in 1955, and his LLB from Stanford Law School in 1962, where he was editor of Vols. 13 and 14 of the Stanford Law Review.

2001 Lawyer of the Year: Thomas Greene

Tom Greene is a Senior Assistant Attorney General for the California Department of Justice. He was recently asked to set aside his work as the chief of the State’s Antitrust Law Section and direct an investigation of potential unlawful conduct in the utility industry. In his antitrust role, Tom managed a diverse antitrust case load in federal and state court.

His own practice has ranged from bid-rigging cases in state court to complex, multi-district litigation in federal court. In 1989, he argued and won California v. ARC America Corp., 490 U.S. 93 (1989), which vindicated state indirect purchaser remedies. In 1992, he served as national class counsel in In re Insurance Antitrust Litigation, which created a model for effective multistate litigation. Subsequently, he served in leadership roles in a variety of multistate actions and was lead attorney for California’s action against the tobacco industry, which was ultimately settled for $25 billion.

He worked previously as special counsel to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives and as a trial lawyer for the Los Angeles County Public Defender and the Criminal Division of the California Attorney General’s office.

Tom is the chair of the Multistate Antitrust Task Force of the National Association of Attorneys General, and a recent recipient of the association’s Marvin Award for national leadership. By appointment of the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, he served on the Judicial Council’s Complex Civil Litigation Task Force, which recently issued a bench book on the management of complex cases in California trial courts. He is the author of various publications on antitrust and the management of complex litigation. He received his B.A. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley and his J.D. from the University of California at Davis. He practices in Sacramento.

2000 Lawyer of the Year: Julian O. Von Kalinowski

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California was pleased to honor Julian O. von Kalinowski as the Antitrust Lawyer of the Year 2000.

Julian O. von Kalinowski is the former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Emeritus of Litigation Services, Inc. (LSI), and now serves as Chairman Emeritus of Dispute Dynamics Incorporated, a trial consulting firm in Los Angeles. He is a renowned litigation authority, with more than 40 years of experience, and is known for his consulting expertise to the nation’s leading attorneys and senior level executives.

Before his trial consulting work, Mr. von Kalinowski was a senior partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and chairman of its Executive Committee. He is a past chairman of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section, and has authored numerous articles and treatises, including the Antitrust Laws and Trade Regulation, a 15-volume treatise now in its second edition, which has been for over 30 years been recognized as the leading antitrust authority, and has been cited by the United States Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Federal District Court.

Mr. von Kalinowski also is a member of the Board of Directors of the Keck Foundation, one of the largest charitable foundations. He is noted for serving as a United Nations Expert on Mission to the People’s Republic of China, where he lectured on the Transfer of Technology and consulted with the Republic to develop its patent code.

An honors graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, Mr. von Kalinowski is a member of the California and Virginia Bars, and a Fellow of the America College of Trial Lawyers and American Bar Foundation

1999 Lawyer of the Year: M. Laurence Popofsky

Notes from the Award Banquet Announcement:

Laurence Popofsky joined the firm of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe in 1962 and practices litigation.

Mr. Popofsky has participated in a variety of antitrust, securities fraud and intellectual property matters. He has argued two cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, a half dozen in the California Supreme Court and approximately 70 others in various appellate courts. Mr. Popofsky was the first Heller Ehrman member to be elected to the American Colllege of Trial Lawyers.

Mr. Popofsky is best known for his antitrust practice, including his landmark victory in the United States Supreme Court in Continental T.V., Inc. et al. v. GTE Sylvannia Inc. More recently, he has led the Heller Ehrman litigation teams representing Visa U.S.A. in litigation involving Dean Witter, Discover and American Express.

His practice has encompassed all aspects of antitrust jurisprudence both state and federal, court and agency alike.

1998 Lawyer of the Year: Maxwell M. Blecher

Notes from the Award Banquet Announcement:

Since beginning a career in antitrust with the Department of Justice in 1956, Maxwell Blecher has tried more antitrust cases than any other lawyer, including numerous groundbreaking cases. Most recently, Max was chief trial counsel in Image Technical Services v. Eastman Kodak Co., which has been the subject of a Supreme Court decision, two Ninth Circuit decisions and extensive commentary.

Among his many other trials are Los Angeles Coliseum Commission v. NFL, which brought the Raiders to Los Angeles, Handgards v. Ethicon which challenged the use of bad faith patent litigation as an antitrust violation, the General Motors Chevrolet discount house cases and several cases for ITT in its early challenges to the vertically integrated telephone monopoly. Max also has been successful on the defense side most notably in United States v. Syufy Enterprises.

After leaving the Antitrust Division in 1963, Max practiced law with the late Mayor Joseph L. Alioto in San Francisco before establishing his own firm in Los Angeles in 1971.

More Past Recipients

1997: Gary R. Spratling
1996: Max Gillam
1995: Robert Raven
1994: Frank Rothman
1993: Joseph L. Alioto
1992: Laurence A. Sullivan
1991: Francis R. Kirkham

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