17. A BANNER YEAR FOR INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH IN ANTITRUST LAW
As the practice of antitrust law has become truly international, the Section of Antitrust Law has been active in working with competition bar leaders from around the world, competition enforcement officials from many jurisdictions and our associate members around the globe. The last fiscal year was a breakout year for the Section in its international outreach, with competition law enforcement officials and leaders of the competition bar featured or hosted at many of its major meetings.
The International Cartel Conference in London was the Section’s first free-standing program outside of North America in over a decade. The Section co-sponsored the conference with the International Bar Association and produced a program featuring enforcement officials from six jurisdictions and attended by more than 200 people.
The section's Spring Meeting has become the international meeting place of competition lawyers from around the world and is, without question, the largest gathering of competition law practitioners in the world, with almost 2,300 attending this year. It featured officials from more than 35 jurisdictions and hosted receptions celebrating the competition officials of the world and the first-ever meeting of the competition bar leaders from about 15 jurisdictions around the world. The heads of competition law agencies from the United States, the European Commission, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Hungary, among others, were in attendance, as were competition officials from many developing economies, including Vietnam and Indonesia. The Section established a new initiative to fund the attendance of several representatives of developing economies in an effort to allow their active participation.
The section’s International Task Force, made up of many of the best respected international practitioners, was central to the section’s outreach with bar leaders around the world and provided the opportunity for the competition bar leaders to work together globally on several issues of mutual benefit. After having its initial meeting at the Spring Meeting, the group met again at the annual meeting of the International Competition Network, the competition enforcers’ organization, in Cape Town, South Africa. That meeting was also organized and chaired by the Section of Antitrust Law. These efforts will continue in the coming years and will continue to enhance international knowledge and cooperation in competition law and policy.
Year in Reivew is published by the
American Bar Association • 321 N. Clark Street • Chicago, IL 60610
© Copyright 2006 American Bar Association
www.abanet.org