A Plea for Greater Antitrust Transparency

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

Comments over breakfast one morning last week at a great antitrust conference in Santorini organized by Ioannis Lianos and UCL got me thinking about the lack of transparency among antitrust practitioners and academics -- at least in the United States though I suspect elsewhere as well.  Oftentimes, academics and private practitioners (many with former agency experience) are asked to present at various hearings and workshops because of their expertise on a topic.  Oftentimes they include written submissions along with their oral testimony.  It is very rare that such practitioners and academics include who has paid for their testimony.

Going forward, I hope that DOJ and FTC begin the introduction to every speaker with the following question. "Have you or will you be billing a client for work in connection with this testimony and if so, who is it?"

Similarly for law reviews and peer review journals, I hope that going forward they mandate disclosure the way that the Antitrust Law Journal does for these purposes.