J. Bruce McDonald

Partner

Bruce McDonald represents energy, transportation, and telecommunications companies in antitrust government investigations and enforcement actions, merger reviews, and antitrust private litigation. He has worked extensively in related sectors, including petroleum and petrochemicals, oil field services, electricity, and aviation.

Bruce served as deputy assistant attorney general with the U.S. Department of Justice for four years from 2003 to 2007. While at the DOJ his antitrust enforcement responsibilities covered energy, telecommunications, transportation, health care, and other regulated markets. The attorney general appointed Bruce to serve as the DOJ's representative on the Electric Energy Competition Task Force created by Congress. He was also part of the U.S. delegation that negotiated the recent "open skies" agreement between the U.S. and the European Union.

Bruce has testified before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and speaks and writes frequently on antitrust law enforcement and policy. He also taught antitrust and trade regulation as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center. He is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar, the State Bar of Texas, the District of Columbia Bar, and the American Bar Association. He currently serves on the Council of the State Bar of Texas' Antitrust & Business Litigation Section and as chair of the ABA Antitrust Section's Transportation & Energy Committee. He previously served as chairman of the Houston Bar Association's Antitrust Section. In addition, he is involved in community and pro bono matters that serve church, civic, and family and youth organizations.