News & Events
'Competition Authorities for the 21st Century' presented by Professor William Kovacic
Fri 13/08/2010
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Speaker:
Professor William KovacicDescription:
On behalf of Melbourne Law School and the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, Associate Professor Caron Beaton-Wells invites you to attend the Inaugural Baxt Lecture in Competition Law.
In a changing political and economic climate, agencies charged with enforcing competition laws face a range of significant challenges in the 21st century. In the past century major challenges lay in educating and persuading a range of constituencies of the value of competition regulation and in developing the institutional expertise and skills to regulate effectively. In many jurisdictions (Australia among them) those tasks have largely been completed and the competition authority enjoys significant political support and, not unrelatedly, has developed into a highly professional outfit with expertise to match the private sector. In coming years, there will be new challenges. Among them will be the expectation that agencies anticipate and be responsive to changes in the nature of competition, and anti-competitive conduct, in a global economic environment. There is also increasing pressure that such agencies take a critical introspective approach to evaluating their performance and that they be accountable in such a way as continues to justify the substantial public resources that they command.
William E. Kovacic has served on the US Federal Trade Commission since January 2006, and served as Chairman from March 2008 until March 2009. He has also served, since January 2009, as Vice Chair for Outreach of the International Competition Network. In 2008, to mark the 100th anniversary of the FTC, Professor Kovacic led a project (known as FTC 100: Into our Second Century) that saw the agency engage in a detailed self-assessment based on internal and external consultations, both to assess whether it had fulfilled the mandate given to it in 1914 by Congress and to chart its direction in its next century. Before he became a Commissioner, Professor Kovacic was the FTC’s General Counsel from 2001 through 2004, and also worked for the Commission from 1979 until 1983, initially in the Bureau of Competition’s Planning Office and later as an attorney advisor to former Commissioner George W. Douglas. Professor Kovacic is a Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School, and has taught and published extensively in the field of antitrust law. For more than two decades he has consulted to governments around the world on antitrust issues.
About the Annual Baxt Lecture in Competition Law
This is the Inaugural Lecture in an Annual Public Lecture Series on competition law and economics related issues established by the Melbourne Law School. It is to be the flagship annual event of a new Competition Law & Economics Network, hosted by the Law School, and featuring the multidisciplinary research, teaching and events programs in this field from across the University. The Network will be launched on the occasion of the Inaugural Baxt Lecture.
The Lecture is named in honour of Professor Bob Baxt AO in recognition of his substantial contribution to the development of competition law in Australia. In particular, the Lecture acknowledges his significant support for the establishment of competition law as a recognised and sought after discipline at the graduate level at the Melbourne Law School. A brief ceremony to mark Bob’s contributions will be held at the start of the Lecture.
Due to extraordinary demand for this lecture, this lecture is now fully booked.
We thank you for your interest in this event.
Click here to view flyer
Co-sponsored by the Melbourne Law School and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, University of Melbourne
Venue: Theatre G08, Ground Floor (lunch available from 12.00pm)
Address: Melbourne Law School 185 Pelham Street Carlton VIC 3053
Contact Person: Caron Beaton-Wells
Contact Details: c.beaton-wells@unimelb.edu.au
RSVP Contact: Genevieve Allen, g.allen@unimelb.edu.au
RSVP: 6 August 2010