Recent Activities

Details about my recent speaking events, online posts, publications, and more are provided below.

Activities

Presented Decoding Collusion at Cambridge-USC Virtual Antitrust Law Workshop

Presented a current working paper, “Decoding Collusion,” coauthored with Danny Sokol, at the October meeting of the Cambridge-USC Virtual Antitrust Law Workshop series.

Panelist at 2nd Annual Antitrust Midwest conference in Chicago

Participated in panel discussion of the 2023 Merger Guidelines, including discussion of how the revised guidelines approach market definition and market structure reasoning.

The Decline of Coordinated Effects Enforcement and How to Reverse It

Published “The Decline of Coordinated Effects Enforcement and How to Reverse It” in the Florida Law Review (joint work with Danny Sokol)

Speaker and moderator for “The 2023 U.S. Merger Guidelines A Review, Book Launch”

Provided introductory remarks for this event and moderated a panel of expert commentators for a discussion of themes, important topics, and predictions about the 2023 Merger Guidelines.

The 2023 U.S. Merger Guidelines - A Review (Sean Sullivan ed., 2024)

Edited “The 2023 U.S. Merger Guidelines - A Review,” a collection of commentary on the 2023 Merger Guidelines by authors including Joseph Farrell, Eleanor M. Fox, Diana L. Moss, Menesh Patel, Gregory Werden, and Nathan Wilson.

The Evolution (and Devolution) of Market Structure Reasoning, in The 2023 U.S. Merger Guidelines - A Review 147 (Sean Sullivan ed., 2024)

Published book chapter “The Evolution (and Devolution) of Market Structure Reasoning” on the ways that market structure reasoning has improved and worsened over time and in the 2023 Merger Guidelines.

Panelist on topic of “Reducing the Demand for Inexpensive Meat” at Northwestern Law’s Animal Welfare and Climate Change Symposium

Joined group of distinguished panelists to discuss paths to reduced consumption of inexpensive meat at Northwestern Law’s Animal Welfare and Climate Change Symposium

Against Efforts to Simplify Antitrust

Published “Against Efforts to Simplify Antitrust” in the Journal of Corporation Law

Discussant for “Research Roundtable on Platform Dynamics” at Northwestern Law

Joined roundtable on platform dynamics in competition law and policy at Northwestern.

Hosted panel discussion “US Merger Guidelines: A Comprehensive Look at the Draft”

Hosted panel discussion on topics of interest in the recently released draft US merger guidelines.

Quoted in AP article “The Amazon antitrust lawsuit is likely to be a long and arduous journey for the FTC”

Quoted on rarity of structural relief in monopolization cases and on judges trying hard to do the right thing.

Quoted in New York Times article “The Flaw in the Case Against Amazon”

Quoted on market definition principles generally and on the legal significance of market shares in monopoly maintenance cases.

Quoted in Bloomberg Law article “Googlers Followed Common Practice in Avoiding Antitrust Triggers”

Quoted on legal significance of Google’s apparent instructions to employees to avoid language that would draw antitrust enforcement attention.

Quoted in Reuters article “FTC's Amazon antitrust lawsuit faces high bar in US court -experts”

Quoted on judicial hesitancy to intervene when a company is accused of pricing its products too low.

Misquoted in BusinessNews article "FTC’s Amazon antitrust lawsuit faces higher restrictions in US court – experts”

Misquoted as saying that judges “are wary of using antitrust law to punish price-gouging behavior.” What I said was judges “judges are often wary of using antitrust law to punish low-pricing behavior.”

Quoted in Inside Retail article “Amazon lawsuit all about ‘chasing optics’ – it is not a monopoly, say experts”

Quoted on judicial hesitancy to intervene when a company is accused of pricing its products too low.

Submitted public comments on the DOJ and FTC Draft Merger Guidelines

Submitted comments recommending changes to the draft guidelines’ treatment of market definition, case law, and other topics.

Slightly misquoted in Columbia Journalism Review article “The Justice Department puts Google on the defensive”

Quoted on standard of illegality in monopolization challenge against Google, phrased in a way that makes business justifications sound a bit too powerful as a defense.

Quoted in Ars Technica article “Here’s exactly what Google will argue to fight the DOJ’s antitrust claims”

Quoted on what monopolization means under the Sherman Act and thus what the government must prove in its search case against Google.

Quoted in Financial Times article “Google court trial on search dominance set to begin in US”

Quoted on the importance of the Google search monopolization case and the substantive law at issue in the trial.

Quoted in Financial Times article "US says Google pays more than $10bn a year to maintain search dominance”

Quoted on elements of monopolization challenge in the DOJ’s case against Google search.

Slightly misquoted in VigourTimes article "Revealed: US Alleges Google Invests $10 Billion Annually to Maintain Search Dominance – A Game-Changing SEO Insight!”

Quoted on elements of monopolization; misquoted on the likely significance of the Google search case for monopolization law (contra the article, is it too soon to tell).

Quoted in Truth on the Market Post “The Catch-22 of AICOA’s Guidelines”

Quoted on the uncertain definition of harms, and uncertain requirements for proving defenses, in the AICOA bill.

Quoted in Reuters article “FTC faces uphill battle in Microsoft/Activision appeal”

Quoted on the appeals process and potential effects of appellate review on the lower court’s decision.