CHAIR’S COLUMN

Qianwei Fu

Zelle LLP

Oakland, CA

With thanks to the authors, editors, and other contributors, the Section is pleased to present another edition of Competition. The articles included in this issue cover important developments in antitrust and unfair competition law as well as discussions from our flagship program, the Golden State Institute (GSI), an annual day-long conference that takes place each fall. We continued our streak of success with the GSI last fall (with over 300 registrants!), hosting the conference on a virtual platform for the first time. Please save the date of November 18, 2021 for our 31st Annual GSI. We hope to resume the tradition of holding the conference in person this year at the historic Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco.

The year 2020 will be remembered as a time of unprecedented challenges and changes. It also presented an opportunity to test the Section’s resilience. Thanks to the selfless commitment of our Executive Committee, advisors, and contributors, the Section has not merely adapted to the virtual environment in the throes of the pandemic, but thrived with creative content and programs. There are several noteworthy accomplishments. First, after five years of nurturing the privacy subcommittee, a new Privacy Law Section is born into the California Lawyers Association family. This Section’s name, thus, has returned to "Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section." The Section’s work in privacy law has paved the way for the continued success of the newly formed Privacy Law Section. We look forward to cross-section collaborations with privacy law practitioners in areas that impact both antitrust and privacy practices. Second, 2021 marks the inaugural year of the Section’s Inclusion & Diversity Fellowship program. The Fellowship is one of the Section’s many efforts toward fostering greater diversity in the antitrust bar. The Fellowship recipient will receive a summer internship in a government agency, a $10,000 stipend, and a year-long mentorship. Through this program, we hope to provide mentorship and career opportunities to students from underrepresented groups and disadvantaged backgrounds, and cultivate the students’ interest in antitrust law. Finally, the Section has continued to provide core products and services to our valued members. Each year, the Section’s ExCom works hard to deliver publications and education programs. Last year was no exception. We published two issues of Competition, with a focus on the digital economy. We updated our beloved treatise, a must-have reference guide on California antitrust and unfair competition law. We published monthly e-briefs and hosted many well-attended CLE programs and events.

Many thanks to our immediate past Chair Elizabeth Pritzker, for her tireless effort in leading the Section’s Executive Committee through a year of challenges and her vision to expand the Section’s diversity efforts. And many thanks to you, our members. Without you, there would be no reason to produce this journal. I hope, with our publications and programs, that we kept you informed, that you learned something from reading and participating, and that you consider contributing to our Section. If you would like to find out how to get involved in our work, please visit the Section’s website at https://calawyers.org/section/antitrust-unfair-competition-law or email me at qfu@zelle.com. I am happy to discuss your interest in contributing to the Section’s activities.