CHAIR’S COLUMN

Elizabeth C. Pritzker

Pritzker Levine LLP

Oakland, CA

The Antitrust, Unfair Competition and Privacy Section is pleased to present another edition of Competition. The issue covers articles on important topics about antitrust enforcement, rules of analysis, economics, and trial practice. Also reprised here are discussions from our flagship program, the Golden State Institute (GSI), an annual day-long conference that takes place each fall. I want thank everyone—organizer, panelist, speaker, sponsor, author, editor and contributor—who make GSI and Competition the enduring successes that they are. And note: this year’s GSI will be on Thursday, November 5, 2020, at the historic Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco, CA.

As the California Lawyers Association that serves as our organizational head turns three, the Antitrust, Unfair Competition and Privacy Section continues its work. In addition to Competition, we have been busy editing and publishing the California State Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law treatise, producing our monthly newsletter, e-Briefs, and putting together insightful webinars, live events, CLE programs, and career development and networking opportunities for our members.

My tenure as Chair happily coincided with the Section’s adoption of its first-ever Diversity and Inclusion Policy and Initiative at our annual meeting in October 2019. The goals of this Diversity Initiative are to increase the diversity of the Section’s membership, the diversity in the Section’s leadership and Executive Committee, and the participation and visibility of diverse lawyers—both in Section activities, specifically, and in the practice areas of antitrust, unfair competition and privacy more generally. The Diversity Initiative defines diversity to refer to race, color, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, first generation professional, and veteran status. As part of our effort to ensure that diverse persons have opportunities ascend to leadership within the Section, we adopted a goal of having at least 30% of any candidate pool for leadership or governance within the Section be comprised of diverse Section members.

Consistent with these goals, the Section has succeeded in diversifying the applicant pools of its Executive Committee and its standing committees. We launched a Mentorship Program that contains a core diversity component. We incorporated a seminar on diversity and inclusion into our GSI programming. We hosted our ever-popular, and now fourth annual, Women in Competition Law program. And, we have plans in the works for events, seminars, and networking activities that will bring together diverse law students, lawyers, regulators, judges and others—programs that we hope will strengthen, grow, and diversify our professional practice for years to come.

All of the work of the Section is performed on a volunteer basis by a dedicated, knowledgeable and spirited group of Executive Committee representatives, standing committee members, and advisors. Each of them is, in a word, fantastic.

If you would like to join us in our work, please consider sitting on a standing committee, serving as a mentor, submitting a piece of writing for publication, becoming an article editor, participating as a panelist, speaker or program organizer, or sponsoring an event at your organization or law firm. Or, suggest something new that you’d like to see happen (or make happen!) for Section members. I am happy to discuss your ideas and interest in getting involved in Section activities. Please email me at ecp@pritzkerlevine.com.