16 April 2018
The risk of follow-on damages claims in Europe is a “contributing factor” in the difficulty of convincing a company to enter into a leniency programme, and has increased “uncertainty” for practitioners in advising clients, a Brussels lawyer said last week.
10 April 2018
The US Department of Justice’s antitrust division is relying more heavily on international squads from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate cross-border cartels, but that does not mean more unannounced searches of company offices and files, a top DOJ official has said.
11 April 2018
Hong Kong’s Competition Commission will introduce a plea bargaining system for cartel offences similar to that used in the US, an official from the country’s antitrust enforcer has said.
11 April 2018
Lawyers have called for competition agencies to agree a consistent approach to unconventional cartels, although a DOJ official has pushed back on what type of conduct would even count as unconventional.
WilmerHale, Washington, DC and Brussels
Thomas Mueller is chair of WilmerHale's Antitrust and Competition Practice Group. He joined the firm in 1992. Mr. Mueller's antitrust practice focuses on global cartel enforcement matters, as well as merger and other investigations with transatlantic implications. Having practiced both in Brussels and Washington, Mr. Mueller has insight into antitrust issues on both sides of the Atlantic and has helped steer clients through the difficulties and opportunities created by the closer cooperation between the US and EU authorities. Chambers describes him as "a figure of great stature within criminal and cartel investigation circles" and "a creative strategist, which makes him a perfect choice for this often complicated and rapidly moving area."
Analysis Group, Boston
Dr. Weglein specializes in the application of economics and statistics to the analysis of liability issues and the quantification of damages in litigation settings. He has worked on several complex antitrust cases, as well as on cases that span a wide range of financial institutions and instruments. In the antitrust sphere, Dr. Weglein has supported damages experts on behalf of Microsoft in several consumer class actions in California, Arizona, Minnesota, Iowa, and Mississippi, as well as one competitor action by Novell. He also supported an expert in competitive strategy on behalf of Intel, in connection with litigations brought by AMD and the State of New York. In matters involving financial institutions and instruments, Dr. Weglein has worked on cases involving total return swaps, credit default swaps, interest rate swaps, private equity, asset management, securities lending, and mutual funds. He has also performed valuations of tangible and intangible assets in tax matters and fraudulent conveyance cases.
Chief, Appellate Section, Antitrust Division, US Department of Justice, Washington, DC
Chief Legal Counsel and Director, Legal Department, Israel Antitrust Authority, Jerusalem
8.30: Welcome coffee and registration
9.00: Chairs’ welcome
Thomas Mueller, WilmerHale, Washington, DC and Brussels
Samuel Weglein, Analysis Group, Boston
9.15: Morning keynote address
Marvin Price, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, US Department of Justice, Washington, DC
9.50: The role of smaller agencies in cartel enforcement
As cartel enforcement slows, perhaps temporarily, in many major antitrust jurisdictions, we examine the role of agencies in smaller or less-established jurisdictions in shaping global cartel enforcement policy. What role should smaller agencies play in shaping global cartel enforcement? How are investigations focused in jurisdictions such as Mexico, South Africa, Hong Kong and Israel? How are those investigations carried out, and what punishments have companies and executives accused of cartel behaviour faced?
Moderator:
Thomas Mueller, WilmerHale, Washington, DC and Brussels
Panel:
Jindrich Kloub, Executive Director, Operations, Hong Kong Competition Commission, Hong Kong
Ori Schwartz, Chief Legal Counsel, Israel Antitrust Authority, Jerusalem
Omar Guerrero R., Hogan Lovells, Mexico City
Marianne Wagener, Norton Rose Fulbright, Johannesburg
Pallavi Shroff, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, New Delhi
11.10: Coffee break
11.35: Square peg in a round hole: The pursuit of unconventional cartels matters
In a world where there are fewer classic price-fixing cases to bring and in which agencies have incentives to find behaviour that could be deemed cartel activity, what’s the proper role of criminal antitrust in an enforcement portfolio? What is the global effect of the increasingly aggressive treatment of information exchange and other similarly grey areas of competition enforcement, as cases are picked up multilaterally? And with different global approaches to explicit and tacit collusion, should observers expect enforcers to agree on the legality of algorithmic pricing?
Moderator:
Phillip Warren, Covington & Burling, San Francisco
Panel:
Martin Raible, Gleiss Lutz, Düsseldorf
Mark Nelson, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Washington, DC
Kristen Limarzi, Chief, Appellate Section, Antitrust Division, US Department of Justice, Washington, DC
12.55: Networking lunch
13.55: Decrypting public and private enforcement in Asia’s biggest jurisdictions
Asia is now firmly established as a hotbed for antitrust enforcement, from both government agencies and private plaintiffs; Korea, China and elsewhere boast active plaintiff lawyers and a court system teeming with antitrust matters. This panel will examine the traits, structure and record of private and public enforcement in Asia's most significant antitrust jurisdictions and discuss what foreign companies can expect when doing business in each country.
Moderator:
Steven Cherry, WilmerHale, Washington, DC
Panel:
Clara Ingen-Housz, Linklaters, Hong Kong
Susan Ning, King & Wood Mallesons, Beijing and Sanya
G R Bhatia, Luthra & Luthra, New Delhi
Sai Ree Yun, Yulchon, Seoul
15.10: Coffee break
15.35: The interplay between public and private cartel enforcement
Public and private enforcement have had both synergistic and competing interests. This panel will explore some of those relationships:
Moderator:
Brent Justus, McGuireWoods, Richmond and Washington DC
Panel:
Djordje Petkoski, Shearman & Sterling, Washington, DC
Casey Halladay, McMillan, Toronto
Antoine Chapsal, Analysis Group, Brussels and Paris
Frédéric Louis, WilmerHale, Brussels
16.50: Chairs' closing remarks
Thomas Mueller, WilmerHale, Washington, DC and Brussels
Samuel Weglein, Analysis Group, Boston
17.00 onwards: All delegates are invited to attend a drinks reception kindly hosted by McMillan