Consent decree reform has been a hallmark of the Makan Delrahim Antitrust Division. For two years, the head of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division has undertaken efforts to terminate legacy consent decrees and to streamline consent decree enforcement procedures. The agency has retired hundreds of legacy antitrust judgments. Currently, the agency is seeking to…
This article follows up on an October 15, 2019 article by the author on a reported investigation by the DOJ Antitrust Division into possible ‘collusion’ by four carmakers in entering into a framework agreement with the State of California on emissions standards. What the government antitrust enforcers choose not to pursue may be as revealing…
A petition for review is before the Supreme Court filed by three California real estate investors who were convicted after trial under Section 1 of the Sherman Act for bid rigging at real estate foreclosure auctions. The defendants preserved their objection that the application of the per se rule was unconstitutional because it took an…
At a historic moment in the country when political winds are doing flips, turning impossible corners and reaching even weather forecasting, it is imperative that law enforcement remain solidly grounded in fact and the law. An abiding hope, maybe now more than ever, and no less true for antitrust, especially given its economic and marketplace…
Traditionally, September has been a month in which the heads of the federal antitrust agencies speak at annual conferences, highlighting their agencies’ accomplishments. This September was no exception. Earlier this month, both Makan Delrahim, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, and FTC Chairman Joe Simons discussed their plans for releasing antitrust guidance…
Fordham University School of Law’s Competition Law Institute (FCLI) will hold its 46th Annual Conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy, and an Antitrust Economics Workshop, September 12-13, 2019, at Fordham Law School in New York City. The two-day conference will include antitrust agency heads, senior officials from antitrust authorities, leading attorneys from law firms…
There has been a great deal of publicity surrounding the Antitrust Division’s recent announcement that a corporation involved in a criminal antitrust violation may get credit for an antitrust compliance program if certain conditions are met. The credit may include a DPA (Deferred Prosecution Agreement: the government reaches a plea agreement with the defendant; files…
Those familiar with this blog have seen a number of posts questioning the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s long-standing position that a company shouldn’t be rewarded for having a corporate compliance program that fails it. Last week, the Antitrust Division announced that it will now consider corporate compliance at the charging stage of criminal antitrust…
Steven J. Cernak[1] For this panel, we have been asked to revisit now-Judge Frank Easterbrook’s seminal 1984 article, “Limits of Antitrust”. Is it still an appropriate guide to antitrust enforcement, both for the FTC and U.S. courts? Or, like many of the rest of us 35 years later, is it a little creaky and, perhaps,…
In April 2018, the Department of Justice announced an initiative to terminate “legacy” antitrust judgments—those lacking an express termination date. These types of judgments date from the early days of the Sherman Act until the late 1970s, when the Antitrust Division adopted the general practice of including sunset provisions that automatically terminate judgments, usually 10…
