You currently do not have JavaScript enabled in your web browser.
The ABA website relies on JavaScript for display purposes.
To fully experience the ABA site, please enable javascript.
American Bar Association

ABA Career Counsel
Your Career Partner on the Web


Attorney By Attorney
Career Profiles of the Profession

Who?

Paul B. Hewitt
Partner
phewitt@akingump.com

What?

Primary Practice Area & Subspecialty Fields:
Antitrust, mergers and acquisitions, Hart-Scott-Rodino.

When?

In Practice Area:
Since 1975

In the Legal Profession:
Since 1974

Where?

Employer:
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP
http://www.akingump.com

Size/Sector:
1,000 lawyers worldwide

City/State:
Washington, DC

Law School:
University of Wisconsin Law School


Undergraduate School/Degree:
Northwestern University, B.A. in Economics
Why?

Pluses/Challenges of Practice Area:
Antitrust is intellectually fascinating and often involves high pressure, high profile representations. Antitrust issues can arise in almost every industry, so antitrust practitioners are repeatedly called on to learn from scratch information about prices, competition, and business practices in many diverse markets.

Core Skills/Key Knowledge Needed in Your Practice Area:
Requires understanding of economics, antitrust law, and procedures and priorities of government enforcement agencies.

Advice to Lawyers and Law Students Interested in Your Practice Area:
1) take Microeconomics in college; 2) take Antitrust in law school; 3) always dig deeply into the facts when analyzing antitrust issues.

How?

Career Path to Current Position:
Judicial Clerk, 1974-75; FTC Bureau of Competition, 1975-78; Akin Gump 1978 - present.

Influences and Mentors:
I became interested in antitrust after reading books by C. Wright Mills, Ferdinand Lundberg, and other muckrakers, while in college in the 1960s. My principal mentors have been Owen M. Johnson, Jr. and David A. Donohoe.

Suggested Reading About Your Practice Area:
To get a feel for the issues and intellectual ferment in the antitrust area, I recommend reading the D.C. Circuit's recent opinion in U.S. v. Microsoft, as well as recent speeches of government enforcers accessible on the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division websites.

Job Search Techniques Used in Finding Your Position(s):
Contacts with FTC alumni.

Bar Affiliations and Activities:

D.C. Bar, State Bar of Wisconsin, Member of ABA Antitrust Section (Vice Chair of Sherman Act Section 2 Committee)

Recent Professional Publications:

Editorial Board member for ABA antitrust treatise, Antitrust Law Developments (5th Ed. 2002); co- author and editor, ABA Antitrust Section Primer on the Law of Joint Purchasing (forthcoming 2003).

Memorable Career Moment:

Winning the U.S. v. ADM/RJR Nabisco case, a nine-year battle with the Justice Department culminating in a two-month trial in the S.D. of Iowa. I learned of the Judge's decision while in Hawaii on business - an unforgettable moment.

Intriguing Interests:

Not so intriguing, but I love to play tennis.