It (was) almost Festivus. And in 2022, when it comes to the topic of antitrust, the rest of us have more grievances than ever to air. This event was a two-part discussion series on antitrust, Congress, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), hosted by the Committee for Justice at the Capitol Hill Club on December 15, 2022.
Featuring:
Alden Abbott
Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center
Alden Abbott is a Senior Research Fellow focusing on antitrust issues. Before joining Mercatus, Mr. Abbott served as the Federal Trade Commission’s General Counsel from 2018 to early 2021, where he represented the Commission in court and provided legal advice to its representatives. Prior to working at the FTC, Mr. Abbott worked at the Heritage Foundation and BlackBerry Ltd. He also served as an adjunct professor at Mason’s Antonin Scalia Law School from 1991 to 2018. Mr. Abbott has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an M.A. in economics from Georgetown University.
Daniel Gilman
Senior Scholar for Competition Policy, International Center for Law and Economics
Before joining ICLE, Dan was an Attorney Advisor in the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning, where he worked on competition issues in healthcare and technology markets and, more broadly, on the competitive impact of regulation, with a focus on privacy regulations, among others. In the 2014-15 academic year, on leave from his FTC duties, he visited Harvard Law School as the Victor H. Kramer Foundation Fellow in antitrust law and economics. His work has been published in diverse academic journals, including the Georgetown Law Journal, American Journal of Law & Medicine, Nursing Economics, the Journal of Health Care Law & Policy, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, and the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Prior to the FTC, Dan taught at the University of Maryland, where he taught law and economics and health and science law. He has also taught at Penn State University and at Washington University in St. Louis, and has experience in private practice in Washington, DC. Dan holds a JD degree from Georgetown, a PhD from the University of Chicago, and an AM from Dartmouth College.
Robert Wagener
Legislative Director, Congressman Scott Fitzgerald (WI-5)
Rob Wagener currently serves as legislative director for Congressman Scott Fitzgerald (WI-5), where he manages the Judiciary Committee portfolio, particularly the Antitrust and IP Subcommittees. Prior to Congressman Fitzgerald, Rob was campaign manager for a battleground U.S. House race in Michigan. He also advised institutional investors on the effects of policy developments on their investment strategy at a research and consulting firm for several years after working for former Rep. Richard Hanna (NY-22). He graduated from the Marquette Law School and from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in economics.
Jessica Melugin (moderator)
Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Jessica Melugin is director of the Center for Technology & Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Her research focuses on technology issues including antitrust, online privacy, Internet taxation, telecommunications, social media content and net neutrality regulation. Her writings have appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, Bloomberg Law, National Review, Forbes, Fortune, The Hill, Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, FoxNews.com, CNBC.com, various regional papers. She has been cited in The Washington Post, Politico, U.S. News and World Report and Variety, among many other publications. Ms. Melugin has appeared on Fox News, CSPAN’s Washington Journal, CNBC’s Power Lunch, and Varney & Co. on Fox Business Network. She’s been featured on NPR’s Marketplace, The David Webb Show on SiriusXM, and is regularly interviewed on terrestrial radio programs. She is a 2022 Innovators Network Foundation Antitrust and Competition Policy Fellow.