ABA Section of Antitrust Law: What’s the Point of Antitrust?

There is an ongoing debate about the appropriate role and objectives of antitrust law. Although there have been debates on these subjects for 50 years, how have recent events like the rise in technology and the great recession shaped the current role of antitrust? In this report from the ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting 2018, hosts Anora Wang and Tom York interview antitrust professors Bill Kovacic and Andy Gavil about the new policy debate. They discuss the forces that have shaped the field over time, where it is now, and where it’s headed in the future.

Anora Wang serves as the American Bar Association law student liaison to its Section of Antitrust Law and is currently attending the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.

Bill Kovacic teaches at George Washington University in D.C. and King’s College London. He is the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission and is on the board of the United Kingdom’s competition agency, The Competition and Markets Authority.

Andy Gavil is a professor at the Howard University School of Law, where he has been teaching civil procedure and antitrust since 1989. Previously, he was a litigator for 8 years, working for firms in Chicago and Denver. He’s also senior of counsel at Crowell & Moring LLP.