New U.S. Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General Confirmed

Today the United States Senate confirmed William J. Baer to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division.  He should be sworn in shortly.  Baer is a respected private practitioner and former Federal Trade Commission official.  Clients should expect Baer to be thoughtful and effective as the United States' top antitrust official, but to continue the far-reaching enforcement program of the Obama Administration.

Baer, until this week head of the antitrust practice group of Arnold & Porter LLP, is regularly listed among Washington's top competition lawyers.  One of his top victories was against his new employer, successfully defending General Electric against DOJ charges that it conspired with South Africa's DeBeers Consolidated Mines to fix prices for industrial diamonds.  He twice has worked at the FTC, including four years as the agency's Director of the Bureau of Competition in the late 1990s.  At the FTC he helped