Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to invite you to the 2006 Spring Meeting of the Section of Antitrust Law. Each year, the Spring Meeting grows in quality and quantity of programming, and is, without question, the largest gathering of competition lawyers on the planet. This year's Meeting will feature more programming than ever with fifty-five sessions planned, plus numerous informal opportunities to meet and participate with other antitrust colleagues in what I like to call the "antitrust conversation." The Spring Meeting will be a memorable event for all who attend, and I am extending a special invitation to the many diverse groups that come together every year to make it an enormous success:

To our Section Leadership who, collectively, put together this enormous event: Please accept my heartfelt thanks and my enthusiastic invitation to come and participate, not only in your committee's programs, but in the wide variety of programs and events that the Spring Meeting offers. This is the time for the Section's committees, task forces, editorial boards and other groups to come together and plan the future of the Section.

To our loyal audience, who year after year attend and enjoy the Spring Meeting: You have my promise that this year's Spring Meeting will be bigger and more inviting than its predecessors. I hope that the variety of programs meets the needs of your practice, and I urge you to sample some of the other programs to round out your experience or even to entertain you.

To our government colleagues from the DOJ, FTC, the States and many jurisdictions around the world: We are honored by your attendance and welcome your active participation. Please use this meeting to try out new ideas and challenge the views of your colleagues in the private bar, as well as your friends from other agencies. Most importantly, let your views be heard. I first attended the Spring Meeting as a young Antitrust Division lawyer and found it an unforgettable experience where I witnessed the wide variety of antitrust issues and problems I did not see daily in my work at the Division. I hope you have the same great experience.

To the young antitrust lawyers attending your first - or one of your early Spring Meetings, use the Spring Meeting as a classroom, be it at the Fundamentals Course, the Chair's Showcase, or the Mock Trial. You should also use this meeting as an opportunity to get to know the greats of the antitrust bar - they are there to help you grow in all aspects of your practice.

To the international practitioners and enforcers, who attend in ever larger numbers each year: We welcome you to the United States and we look forward to learning from you. This year, we will again offer an "international track," which means that there will be programs of international interest in every programming slot over three days. Please look for this symbol: which designates "international track" programming. We are especially honored to welcome important speakers from EC Competition Commissioner Nellie Kroes to JFTC Chairman Takashima to ICN Chair Ulf Boge of Germany to Former EC Competition Commissioner Mario Monti. Through a special initiative of the Section, we have invited and welcome competition officials from countries with more recent competition regimes, ranging from Vietnam to Jamaica and from Estonia to South Africa. The Spring Meeting has become the center of major international discourse on competition issues, and we invite and welcome you to participate in the global "antitrust conversation."

To corporate counsel involved in antitrust matters: We invite you to focus on either substantive matters that are of interest to you or the practical skills discussed in the litigation and counseling programs of the Spring Meeting. There is no other meeting where you can conveniently learn about the substantive law developments and the practical skills of handling antitrust risk in the current corporate environment, and, at the same time, discover what the enforcers have in mind for the future.

To the litigators, who are most interested in the development of cases and in pre-trial and trial skills: We again offer a "litigation track" so that you can immerse yourself in litigation-related programming during every hour of programming for three days. Please look for this symbol: which designates "litigation track" programming. The Mock Trial program is always a highlight for the litigators. This year will be no different with the trial of a rule of reason case alleging anticompetitive conduct by a joint sales venture between a "brick and mortar" company and an on-line enterprise. We will also feature discussions of the three antitrust cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, programs on trial preparation and civil jury instructions in antitrust cases, among many other useful sessions.

To the economists, and those interested in economics: We will present a substantial number of economic programs, featuring many eminent economists. The Economics Fundamentals program, the Economics Experts Speaker program, the Mock Trial, the Trial Preparation session and the Breakfasts with the FTC Bureau Directors and DOJ Deputy Assistant Attorneys General will provide sophisticated economics training and discussion of the developing issues for lawyer and economist alike.

To our consumer protection practitioners: You will be able to participate in an increasing number of significant and sophisticated programs on consumer protection, privacy and information security, and other growing areas of consumer protection practice in the United States and around the world.

To our colleagues in academia, we will provide a rigorous level of discourse of developing issues from the dominance debate to empirical approaches to antitrust. The level of debate should be stimulating to the professor and serious practitioner alike, and we welcome your active and enthusiastic participation and your thoughtful questioning of our speakers.

All five FTC Commissioners, the FTC Bureau Directors, all senior officials of the Antitrust Division, heads of at least ten enforcement agencies around the world, including the EC Commissioner of Competition, and many distinguished practitioners, economists and scholars have agreed to speak and they will collectively add luster and excitement to the Spring Meeting.

Finally, we are delighted that Doris Kearns Goodwin will return this year as our dinner speaker. Her recent biography of Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet, Team of Rivals, has been widely acclaimed. Lincoln's great lawyerly skills as advocate, strategist and leader provide lessons and inspiration for us all.

I look forward to seeing you at the Spring Meeting.

Yours faithfully,
Donald C. Klawiter





Chair, Section of Antitrust Law