Antitrust and Competition Policy

Upon completion of coursework in this area, students will possess knowledge and understanding of the major analytical components of antitrust and competition law, as well as the main modalities of analysis of scrutinized conduct.

With respect to the major analytical components, students will understand the law governing agreements between rivals, and the circumstances under which conduct is subjected to automatic condemnation or case-by-case scrutiny. They will understand the law governing agreements between nonrivals, with a particular focus on “vertical” agreements between producers of complementary goods and services. They will also understand the law governing unilateral conduct by a dominant firm. Finally, they will have an understanding of the law governing merger control, including the framework for evaluating the competitive effects of proposed mergers.

Across these substantive domains, students will further understand the role of market power and market definition in the evaluation of anticompetitive conduct. They will also be able to assess the relationship between antitrust/competition law and other fields of law, including constitutional law, intellectual property law, labor law, and industry-specific regulation as well as state law directed to restraints on competition.

With respect to methodology, students will learn the methods of legal interpretation and economic analysis used to evaluate scrutinized conduct. They will gain experience in evaluating central controversies and doctrinal tensions within antitrust and competition law, including competing theories of the purposes and proper scope of enforcement. They will also develop an ability to assess how the rise of new markets and technologies has challenged or strained the application of traditional principles, and to evaluate proposed doctrinal or regulatory responses to those challenges.

As a result, students will be able to construct and communicate, in written and oral form, a reasoned argument about the lawfulness of particular conduct, drawing on statute, precedent, and economic reasoning. Through the required course together with specialized seminars, colloquia, and cross-disciplinary electives, students will have the opportunity to pursue advanced study and to develop more specialized expertise.

Multiple-Section Course Learning Outcomes

Antitrust Law (LAW-LW.11164)

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding of Substantive Law (ABA Standard 302(a)(1))

1. Knowledge and understanding of the foundational statutory sources and fundamental principles of federal antitrust law.
2. Knowledge and understanding of the landmark precedents that have shaped the development of federal antitrust doctrine.
3. Knowledge and understanding of the law governing “horizontal” agreements between rivals, including the legal treatment of restraints of trade among competitors.
4. Knowledge and understanding of the law governing “vertical” agreements between producers of complementary goods and services.
5. Knowledge and understanding of the law of monopolization, including the standards governing unilateral conduct by dominant firms.
6. Knowledge and understanding of the law governing merger control, including the framework for evaluating the competitive effects of proposed mergers.

Legal Analysis and Reasoning (ABA Standard 302(a)(2), (3))

1. The ability to analyze and apply antitrust doctrine to novel fact patterns involving horizontal agreements, vertical agreements, unilateral conduct, and mergers.
2. The ability to analyze and apply antitrust economics in the evaluation of challenged conduct.
3. The ability to critically evaluate central controversies and doctrinal tensions within antitrust law, including competing theories of the purposes and proper scope of antitrust enforcement.
4. The ability to assess how the rise of new markets and technologies has challenged or strained the application of traditional antitrust principles, and to evaluate proposed doctrinal or regulatory responses to those challenges.
5. The ability to construct and evaluate reasoned legal arguments concerning contested questions of antitrust law and policy.

Advanced Antitrust Law: Big Tech and Beyond (LAW-LW.10967)

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding of Substantive Law (ABA Standard 302(a)(1))

1. Knowledge and understanding of the antitrust issues raised by digital markets, including the application of traditional antitrust doctrine to large technology platforms.
2. Knowledge and understanding of the Robinson-Patman Act and its distinctive role within the federal antitrust framework.
3. Knowledge and understanding of antitrust rules and doctrines applicable to special or distinctive markets beyond the paradigmatic goods market.
4. Knowledge and understanding of the mechanisms and doctrines governing private antitrust enforcement.
5. Knowledge and understanding of the intersection of antitrust law and labor markets.
6. Knowledge and understanding of the range of remedies available in antitrust enforcement and litigation, and the considerations that inform their selection.

Legal Analysis and Reasoning (ABA Standard 302(a)(2), (3))

1. The ability to apply foundational antitrust principles learned in a prior introductory course to frontier and emerging antitrust topics not typically covered in a survey course.
2. The ability to critically reexamine and evaluate core antitrust concepts, including the meaning of harm to competition and whether that concept should continue to organize antitrust analysis.
3. The ability to critically assess the practice and utility of market definition as an analytical tool in antitrust law.
4. The ability to analyze and evaluate contested conduct-specific questions in antitrust, such as whether "self-preferencing" by dominant platforms constitutes an antitrust problem.
5. The ability to engage critically and independently with unsettled and evolving debates at the frontier of antitrust law and policy, synthesizing doctrine, economic theory, and policy considerations.

Criminal Antitrust Theory and Practice Seminar (LAW-LW.12994)

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding of Substantive Law (ABA Standard 302(a)(1))

1. Knowledge and understanding of the history and theoretical underpinnings of federal criminal antitrust enforcement, and its distinctive position at the intersection of competition policy and white collar criminal law.
2. Knowledge and understanding of the legal presumptions and general intent standards applicable to criminal antitrust offenses.
3. Knowledge and understanding of the doctrines governing corporate criminal liability and individual accountability in criminal antitrust matters.
4. Knowledge and understanding of the methods and tools used to detect and investigate criminal antitrust violations, including corporate self-disclosure programs and whistleblower reward regimes.
5. Knowledge and understanding of prosecutorial charging decisions and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in criminal antitrust enforcement.
6. Knowledge and understanding of due process and vagueness doctrine as applied to criminal antitrust statutes.
7. Knowledge and understanding of criminal antitrust litigation and sentencing practice, including the relationship between parallel government enforcement actions and private civil damages actions.
8. Knowledge and understanding of the framework governing international criminal antitrust enforcement.

Legal Analysis and Reasoning (ABA Standard 302(a)(2), (3))

1. The ability to critically analyze how prosecutors and defense counsel invoke and shape criminal antitrust theory in the context of modern litigation.
2. The ability to evaluate primary source materials — including case law, briefs, court transcripts, and policy documents — to construct an informed analysis of criminal antitrust doctrine and practice.
3. The ability to assess the strategic and practical considerations that inform plea negotiations in criminal antitrust matters.
4. The ability to critically evaluate the trajectory of criminal antitrust enforcement and to draw reasoned conclusions about its likely future development.

Other Professional Skills (ABA Standard 302(a)(4), (b))

1. The ability to engage in sustained oral analysis and debate of contested questions in criminal antitrust law and policy through informed seminar discussion, including engagement with the perspectives of practicing prosecutors and defense counsel.
2. The ability to evaluate a legal or policy issue in criminal antitrust from both a prosecution and a defense perspective, reflecting the adversarial dynamics of the field.