Bill Baer assumed his post as leader of the U.S. Department of
Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division in January of this year and is
starting to make his mark. In April, he announced a major policy
shift on employee carve-outs from corporate plea agreements and
released the division's annual update, each of which we discuss
below.
One important theme of Baer's annual update is budget
constraints. The update's release coincided with the DOJ budget
request to Congress for 2014, which plans for 29 fewer full-time
employees at the division in 2014 than were at work in 2012 (and
which eliminates 50 other nominal positions long held vacant due to
a lack of funding). It is not at all clear that a division with
four fewer field offices in 2013, sequestration now in effect, and
dozens fewer employees will continue the record-breaking
enforcement numbers of the last few years. Even now, some of the
eye-catching numbers in the division's enforcement record arise
from just a few
