Jones Day antitrust writing competition - the first annual William E. Swope antitrust prize winner announced
March 2006
The annual William E. Swope Antitrust Writing Prize was created in 2005 by Jones Day to commemorate Bill Swope's pioneering ability to clarify abstract and complex issues. Formerly the highest ranking career official in the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division and later a Jones Day partner, Bill Swope was known for his ability to devour the facts in each and every industry before him, extract what was relevant, and simplify it to explain how markets function in the real world. Bill was one of the first practitioners of what today is viewed as mainstream antitrust practice, but which 30 years ago was just beginning to emerge. In celebration of Bill Swope's contribution to modern antitrust practice, Jones Day's Swope Writing Prize aims to recognize young lawyers who have demonstrated an ability to apply practical analysis to antitrust problems.
The first William E. Swope Antitrust Prize of $10,000 was awarded on March 28, 2006 at a reception at the Jones Day Washington Office. Bill's most lasting achievement was the amazing number of leading antitrust lawyers of the last three decades who owe much of their ability to do great antitrust work to learning from Bill Swope how to do it right. The following representative list of Bill's "students" illustrate that legacy, and all presented their thoughts about Bill's contributions at the reception: former Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Thomas E. Kauper; former Chief of the General Litigation Section of the Antitrust Division Gerald Connell; former Acting Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust (and now a partner at Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw) Richard J. Favretto; former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust (and now a partner at Cleary Gottlieb) Mark Leddy; and former Jones Day partners Charles A. James, also a former Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust and currently Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Chevron Corporation, and Deborah Platt Majoras, also a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust and now the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Jones Day partner Joe Sims moderated the program, and Phillip A. Proger, the Chair of Jones Day's Antitrust & Competition Law Practice, presented the awards. Jones Day partner Kathryn M. Fenton, the current Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association's Antitrust Law Section, closed the proceedings by announcing the opening of the Second Annual Swope Prize competition.
The winning prize for the first year of the competition was awarded to Dean Harvey, currently a third-year student at the University of California, Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall). Dean's submission, "
Anticompetitive Social Norms as Antitrust Violations," argues that participants of a social norm violate Section 1 of the Sherman Act when the norm has, on the whole, an anticompetitive effect. He concludes that the fact that social norms may be powerful collusive mechanisms in social structures characterized by low concentration and low barriers to entry contradicts consensus views in both industrial organization economics and antitrust enforcement.
Honorable Mention prizes were awarded to Casey W. Halladay (L.B. 2000, University of Ottawa Law School; LL.M. 2005, Harvard Law School) for his submission, "
No Power? No Problem. Toward a More 'Reasonable' Test for Competitor Collaborations," and to Joshua D. Wright (J.D. 2001, UCLA School of Law; currently Assistant Professor at George Mason University School of Law) for a paper entitled, "
Antitrust Law and Competition for Distribution."
The second year of the William E. Swope Writing Competition is now underway. The contest is open to all students currently enrolled in a full-time or part-time Juris Doctorate or more advanced degree program at a law school accredited by AALS (or a law school of equivalent standing if outside the U.S.), to current judicial clerks who have graduated from such a program, and to practicing lawyers who graduated from such degree programs in May 2001 or later.
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