From a press release issued by the law firm Kirkland & Ellis:
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is pleased to announce a significant expansion of its already strong antitrust practice with the addition of former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Tim Muris and his FTC Chief of Staff Christine Wilson to the Firm's Washington, D.C., office. Muris is the only former FTC chairman with an active private practice.
Muris and Wilson join Kirkland from the Washington, D.C., office of O'Melveny & Myers, LLP, where Muris co-chaired the antitrust practice and Wilson was a partner. Bilal Sayyed, formerly at O'Melveny & Myers, LLP and the FTC, and Ian Conner, formerly at Hunton & Williams LLP and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), will also join Kirkland with Muris and Wilson....
"The enforcement experience of this group promises to provide our clients with unsurpassed insights about the regulatory environment in which they operate," said Gene Assaf, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office who serves on Kirkland's Global Management Executive Committee....
Muris served as the chairman of the FTC from 2001 to 2004. The creation of the National Do Not Call Registry, successful cases against companies for misuse of government processes to raise prices, numerous lawsuits against physicians for price-fixing, and increased antitrust scrutiny of intellectual property issues are just a handful of the many accomplishments that marked his tenure as chairman....Since joining O'Melveny & Myers, LLP, in 2004, Muris has represented clients on a broad range of merger reviews and antitrust investigations. Public representations include matters for Delta Air Lines, Disney, ExxonMobil, Verizon and Visa....Current FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz (appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009) bestowed on Muris the Miles W. Kirkpatrick Award for Muris' years of service to the FTC.
...Wilson, who joins Kirkland as a partner, has significant experience as an antitrust enforcer. During her tenure as chief of staff to the FTC Chairman, she oversaw the antitrust and consumer protection initiatives of the agency and liaised with the White House, the U.S. Congress, and federal and state agencies to insure the effective implementation of the FTC's mission. Since returning to private practice, Wilson has represented clients on multiple high-profile matters. For example, with Muris and Sayyed, Wilson represented Northwest Airlines in its merger with Delta Air Lines, Verizon in its acquisition of MCI, and ExxonMobil in the FTC's investigation of price-gouging following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita....
Bilal Sayyed joins Kirkland as a partner. Previously, he served as a senior antitrust adviser to Muris during his tenure as FTC chairman....
...Kirkland's Antitrust and Competition Practice Group includes more than 150 lawyers working on civil and criminal antitrust litigation and mergers in the Firm's Washington, D.C., Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Palo Alto and San Francisco offices.
More private-sector job creation. I've written before about the revolving door at the SEC. This is the sort of thing that engenders cynicism in the public among companies about antitrust enforcement, and a strong temptation to say that Congress should just abolish the FTC entirely and cause the 150 lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis working on antitrust (right up there with GE's 975-person tax department) to go create value in our economy some other way.
My favorite line in the press release is the one pointing out that Mr. Muris is "the only former FTC chairman with an active private practice." Why, it's practically a monopoly! He'd better hope the FTC doesn't come after him. If it does, I bet he knows where to find some good antitrust lawyers.
