Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law

Competition: Fall 2014, Vol. 23, No. 2

CHAIR’S COLUMN

Kenneth R. O’Rourke

O’Melveny & Myers LLP

Los Angeles, CA

With thanks to the authors, editors and other contributors, our Section is pleased to present you with another edition of Competition. A variety of articles and viewpoints are provided on important antitrust and unfair competition law topics. Our editor-in-chief, Tom Dahdouh, for whom special thanks is due, provides an overview of this edition in his Editor’s Column below.

In addition to publications, our Section promotes education and professionalism with our programs. Our flagship program is the Golden State Institute (GSI), a daylong conference followed by an evening event honoring the Antitrust Lawyer of the Year. This year’s GSI will be held on Thursday, October 16, 2014, at the historic Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco, California.

Expect a top-notch program featuring leading plaintiff and defense practitioners, government enforcers, and state and federal judges, serving as speakers and panelists. The topics are varied and range from trials of recent high-profile mergers challenged including FTC v. St Luke’s Health System and United States v. Bazaarvoice, to the battle over a Major League Baseball team with intentions of moving to San Jose, to an insightful conversation with an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, Kathryn M. Werdegar, to issues surrounding privacy, big data and the Internet, to a discussion of complex business and antitrust trials by a panel of distinguished judges. There will be much more.

Following the panels, we will honor Phillip H. Warren as our 2014 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year. Phil is the longtime leader of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division Field Office in San Francisco. He could be a multi-year winner based on his stellar career investigating and criminally prosecuting a host of international industry cartels. And his antitrust career continues. This year Phil joined The Covington Firm as a partner in the firm’s San Francisco office. We congratulate Phil.

Please join us for GSI 2014 and the award dinner honoring Phil on October 16th. It will be a special event, from start to finish. More information will be available in Section email updates and on the Section’s website, antitrust.calbar.ca.gov/Education/GoldenStateInstitute.aspx

For those who will be attending the State Bar’s Annual Meeting in San Diego on September 11-14, please consider attending our Section’s presentations. We will have two, back-to-back scheduled on Saturday morning, September 13, 2014. One panel will provide an overview of antitrust and unfair competition law while the other panel will address cultural challenges that arise when handling international investigations and litigation.

The State Bar’s Annual Meeting in September marks the end of my term as Chair of the Section. It has been a privilege to serve the Section and the profession in this role during the 2013-14 year and as a member of the Executive Committee for several years before that. Some say the two best days of a leadership appointment are the day your term begins and the day your term ends. This observation is right but not for the reason implied.

My job as chair could not be done without the outstanding contributions of many. They initiate new ways to achieve excellent results for the Section and for the antitrust profession at large. Indeed, we are fortunate to enjoy a true profession, not just a job, because of the camaraderie and collegiality shared among so many members of the Section. Yes, the first day of an antitrust leadership appointment is welcomed—and so is the last. By then one has witnessed over and over the quality and dedication of those who are next (and next after that) in the Section’s leadership lines.

I congratulate one of those upcoming leaders, the new Chair of the Section for the 2014-15 term, Tom Dahdouh. Tom is the Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Western Region. He splits time in the FTC offices in San Francisco and Los Angles. Tom has served admirably in several roles during his five years on the Section’s Executive Committee, most recently serving as our Vice Chair and Editor-in-Chief of Competition.

Tom’s term as Chair begins in September. He will be joined by a terrific group of current and future leaders including new and returning vice chairs, deputy vice chairs, and other officers and members of the Section’s Executive Committee. I congratulate them all. The Section’s future is bright. And so will be the last day of my term. I will step down knowing the Section is in excellent hands for years to come.

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