Speaker biographies

Thomas O. Barnett was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as assistant attorney general of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice on February 10, 2006. Mr. Barnett became the division’s acting assistant attorney general effective June 25, 2005, and previously served as the division’s deputy assistant attorney general for civil enforcement. Prior to joining the Antitrust Division, Mr. Barnett was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Covington & Burling, where he served as vice chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Consumer Protection Practice Group. At Covington & Burling, Mr. Barnett provided counsel on corporate transactions and licensing arrangements in the airline, chemical, construction aggregate, defense, hospital, petroleum, pharmaceutical, and other industries. Mr. Barnett is experienced in antitrust litigation and, among others, in antitrust issues involving intellectual property, e-commerce, sports law, and corporate compliance programs. From 1989 to 1990, Mr. Barnett clerked for the Honorable Harrison Winter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and was a coteacher of an advanced antitrust seminar at the University of Virginia School of Law. Mr. Barnett is a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia Bars and the Antitrust Section.

Michael S. Greve is the John G. Searle Scholar at AEI. His research and writing cover American federalism and its legal, political, and economic dimensions. Mr. Greve cofounded and, from 1989 to 2000, directed the Center for Individual Rights, a public interest law firm that served as counsel in many precedent-setting constitutional cases, including United States v. Morrison and Rosenberger v. University of Virginia. He has written widely on constitutional and administrative law, federalism, environmental policy, and civil rights.

Deborah Platt Majoras served as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from August 2004 through March 2008. On June 30, she will join Procter and Gamble as vice president and general counsel. Prior to her position with the FTC, Ms. Majoras was a partner in the antitrust section at Jones Day in Washington, D.C., and also was a member of the firm’s technology issues practice. She previously served as deputy assistant attorney general and principal deputy at the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division. During her tenure, she served as chair of the International Competition Network’s (ICN) Merger Working Group and oversaw policy initiatives such as the FTC/DOJ Health Care Hearings, DOJ’s Merger Review Process Initiative, and the Mergers Best Practices Project. Ms. Majoras is a member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law, where she served as vice chair of the Section 2 Committee and as a member of the Long-Range Planning Committee. Ms. Majoras also served as a nongovernmental adviser to the ICN and was named by President George W. Bush to serve on the Antitrust Modernization Commission.

Theodore W. Ullyot is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He specializes in appellate litigation, administrative law, and antitrust law. Mr. Ullyot was the general counsel of ESL Investments, Inc., from October 2005 to April 2008. From January 2003 to October 2005, he served in various positions in the Bush administration, including as chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Justice and as deputy staff secretary at the White House. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ullyot was general counsel of AOL Time Warner Europe, where his duties included representing the company in antitrust matters before European regulators. He served as AOL Time Warner’s chief liaison to the European Commission in connection with the antitrust-related conditions imposed on the merger between AOL and Time Warner. Mr. Ullyot also clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court.