Welcome to our annual AAG Awards that recognize the
accomplishments of the Antitrust Division.
I want to start by thanking our outstanding quartet for a beautiful
rendition of the national anthem.
Whoever said antitrust lawyers were talentless academics obviously
hadn’t heard this group, which we’re calling the coordinated effects
quartet. And thank you all for
coming.
We’re here to celebrate a remarkable series of victories and
hard work on behalf of American consumers.
We’re going to honor you, who have dedicated your professional careers
and talents to public service. With
varied backgrounds, serving in all kinds of roles, you are the heartbeat of the
Division.
We have award winners who, as paralegals just months out of
college, undertook critical work on multi-billion dollar merger challenges. And on the other end of the spectrum we have
winners who have devoted literally a half-century of service to the
Division. We’re here to honor attorneys,
support staff, paralegals, economists, and FBI agents, from every part of the
country and with every kind of background, who have in common an uncommon
devotion to public service and the enforcement of free markets. We’re here, quite simply, because of the good
work you do.
We’ll also be honoring the memories and dedications of three
of our dear friends with the creation of two new awards for cartel enforcement
and ethics and integrity.
First let me say what an honor it is to serve you as the
Division’s Assistant Attorney General.
I’ve worked in various jobs in all three branches of the federal
government, and I truly believe that working at the Antitrust Division of the
Department of Justice is one of the greatest privileges anyone can have. And this is the only Department in all of the
federal government with a moral ideal in its very name. Your work in pursuit of justice for the
American consumer vindicates that ideal.
Through our law enforcement efforts we preserve the economic
organization of our nation. The American
economy is premised on liberty; the liberty to engage in business fairly. The liberty to innovate. The liberty to risk and utilize your talents
and earn an honest remuneration for that risk.
Your work is critical to the continued functioning of that free market
system. American consumers expect
competition in the economy to work to their benefit, and together we help to
maintain and vindicate those expectations.
For many of us, antitrust is not just a fun profession, but an important
mission.
So before turning to the awards we’re giving this year and
the particular cases we’re celebrating, let me say thank you to the entire
staff of the Antitrust Division for your stewardship of one of our country’s
most important institutions. Thank you
for your contributions both to our system of justice and to our system of
commerce. Whether or not you’re
receiving an award this year, know that your work is deeply appreciated.
Let me also say thank you at the outset to the family and
friends of those receiving awards, some of whom I know are here today. Every one of our award recipients, I am
sure, has a story about a late night, an out of town trip, or an unexpected
project, where their family went above and beyond to support their hard work on
behalf of American consumers. Maybe you
have a series of those, as your partner moved from one busy matter to the
next. For those stories, and for all of
the love and support in between, thank you.
Let’s give our first round of applause this afternoon to all of the
family and friends who made today possible.
I know that the last year has been an incredibly busy one
for the Division, with numerous major trials and transactions that really
stretched our resources to the limit.
And that all came amidst a leadership transition, with the need to
incorporate and educate a new Front Office team. This year’s awards deservingly recognize how
many Division personnel truly went above and beyond the call of duty to meet
those challenges.
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