Meeting presents nuts-and-bolts programs for antitrust lawyers

Some 2,100 lawyers attended the 54th Annual Spring Meeting of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law held in Washington, D.C., from March 29-31. The meeting featured 200 speakers at 50 sessions, and brought together enforcement officials from the United States, Europe, Africa, Japan, Latin America, the Middle East and Canada. The program included discussions of the latest developments in competition policy, antitrust enforcement, mergers and acquisitions, criminal sentencing, consumer protection and international convergence.

Professor Stephen Calkins used a March Madness theme to recap the latest in Antitrust

During the CLE program "Cutting Edge Antitrust Compliance Programs: Objectives, Technologies and Ethics," U.S. Sentencing Commissioner Michael Horowitz spoke to the issue of changing antitrust expectations. It's no longer enough to have a compliance program, Horowitz said. A business now must show that the program is effective. He also spoke to the responsibility of business leaders and the necessity for the board of officers or other members of senior management to be given enough information to keep them appropriately informed about the dealings of the company, and talked about the "tone at the top" – does the board understand and really "get" the importance of a compliance program and all that is involved?

The Antitrust Spring Meeting also included a CLE program geared toward the insurance industry, "The Future of the McCarran-Ferguson Act – in the courts, in Congress and in the field." Carter McDowell, chief counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, speaking on his own behalf, talked about the likelihood of congressional action on insurance legislation. He reminded listeners that the Financial Services Committee had been created as a result of the passage of Gramm-Leach-Bliley, which combined the jurisdiction of the former House Banking Committee and some of the issues that had previously been under the jurisdiction of the Energy and Commerce Committee. In order for legislation to move forward, said McDowell, there must be a consensus view that there is a need for action. He expressed his personal view that McCarron-Ferguson would likely be repealed, not as a stand-alone action but rather as more comprehensive legislative work.

Also featured at the conference was a roundtable with enforcement officials.  Participants included Deborah Platt Majoras, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission; Thomas O. Barnett, assistant attorney general in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; Neelie Kroes, commissioner for competition for the European Union; and Robert L. Hubbard, chair of the National Association of Attorneys General Multistate Antitrust Task Force. Majoras released the FTC's annual report at the roundtable.

Back to top