Twelve Alston & Bird Antitrust Team attorneys have been appointed to leadership posts with the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law, the country’s largest and most prominent antitrust bar organization.
Several appointments are new for the Antitrust Section’s 2021-22 term that begins this month, including a senior associate who was named to the Section’s governing board for a three-year term, while others are continuations of previous appointments. The appointments recognize lawyers across Alston & Bird’s offices in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
- Partner Kathleen Benway was named to the Antitrust Section’s Task Force on Federal and State Privacy Legislation. Before joining Alston & Bird, she served as chief of staff for the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection and an attorney-advisor to an FTC commissioner.
- Partner Adam Biegel was appointed co-chair of the Section’s Long Range and Strategic Planning Committee after having served as co-chair of the Section’s Spring Meeting, the largest competition and consumer protection conference in the world. Co-leader of Alston & Bird’s Antitrust Team, Biegel has been prominent in the antitrust bar for many years, having served previously on the Antitrust Section’s Council (its governing board) and as chair of its Corporate Counseling Committee.
- Partner Alex Brown continues as a member of the Antitrust Section’s Task Force on Federal and State Privacy Legislation. He previously served as a Young Lawyer Representative on the Antitrust Section’s Privacy and Information Security Committee. A commercial litigator, he focuses his practice on antitrust, consumer protection, and data privacy matters.
- Partner Matthew Kent will continue to serve on the Section’s Advisory Board on Section Reserves and as liaison to the National LGBT Bar Association. He previously served as chair of the Antitrust Section’s Unilateral Conduct Committee and Competition Torts Committee and vice chair of the Compliance and Ethics Committee.
- Partner Stuart Plunkett was named vice chair of the Section’s Competition Torts Committee. He is an experienced antitrust and commercial litigator who previously served as president of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
- Partner John Snyder, former counsel to the head of the U.S. Justice Department Antitrust Division, continues as vice chair of the Antitrust Section’s Insurance and Financial Services Industry Committee. He is a former vice chair of the Antitrust Section’s Antitrust Law & Economics Institute for Judges and vice chair of the Agriculture and Food Industry Committee.
- Partner Andy Tuck was named co-chair of the Antitrust Section’s Intellectual Property Committee. Tuck is a patent-barred commercial litigator focusing on federal antitrust litigation and international arbitration who previously served as vice chair of the Section’s IP Committee.
- Partner Valarie Williams will continue to serve as the Antitrust Section’s liaison to the Canadian Bar Association National Competition Law Section. She previously served as a member of the Antitrust Section’s Council and has held numerous other Antitrust Section leadership posts, including chair of the Books and Treatises Committee and editorial board member for Antitrust Law Developments (8th ed.), the seminal comprehensive review of federal antitrust law.
- Senior associate Andrew Hatchett is a new vice chair of the Section’s Health Care and Pharmaceuticals Committee. He previously served as a Young Lawyer Representative on the Section’s Joint Conduct and Pricing Conduct committees. He counsels and defends clients in a wide range of antitrust litigation, including pharmaceutical companies in Hatch-Waxman cases at the intersection of U.S. patent and antitrust law.
- Senior associate Deona Kalala was elected to serve a three-year term on the Antitrust Section’s Council following her nomination this spring, in addition to being appointed to the Section’s Diversity Plan Task Force. She previously served as chair of the Section’s Diversity.Advanced Initiative, vice chair of both the Membership, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Women.Connected Initiative, and liaison from the ABA Young Lawyers Division to the Antitrust Section. She is an experienced antitrust lawyer who also previously served as co-chair of the Antitrust Committee of the ABA Young Lawyers Division and the Young Lawyer Representative on both the Antitrust Section’s Economics Committee and Programs Committee.
- Senior associate Laura Komarek was appointed as the Young Lawyer Representative on the Janet D. Steiger Fellowship Project, a Section program created in 2004 to fund summer internships in the offices of state attorneys general nationwide for law students interested in consumer protection issues. She represents clients in state and federal courts across the country and has experience with a wide range of litigation matters, including antitrust, complex commercial litigation, consumer class actions, and government and internal investigations.
- Senior attorney Hilla Shimshoni was named a vice chair of the Antitrust Section’s Economics Committee. She previously served as vice chair of the Section’s Federal Civil Enforcement Committee and as the Young Lawyer Representative on the Section’s Pricing Conduct Committee. A former economic analyst in antitrust litigation and trade disputes, she advises clients on a wide range of matters, including mergers and acquisitions clearance and risk, strategic counseling, investigations, and compliance.