Georgetown University Economics Professor and Former FCC Chief Economist Marius Schwartz rejoins Bates White's Antitrust Practice

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Bates White is pleased to announce that Dr. Marius Schwartz, Professor of Economics at Georgetown University, has rejoined the firm as an Academic Affiliate in the Antitrust and Competition Practice. Dr. Schwartz recently completed 19 months as Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

During his time at the FCC, Dr. Schwartz worked on various matters in the communications area, including reform of universal service to incorporate auctions, the Level 3/Global Crossing merger, and the complex commercial agreements in the Verizon Wireless/SpectrumCo transaction that affected multiple markets, including broadband access, video, mobile wireless, and bundles of these services. Chairman Genachowski recognized Dr. Schwartz for his contributions, saying "Marius was an outstanding Chief Economist, who applied his deep economic expertise and problem solving abilities daily to our most challenging initiatives. The Commission has relied heavily on his input and analysis to make key decisions, and his work substantially bolstered the FCC's economic capabilities."

From 1998 to 2000 Dr. Schwartz served at the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) as Economics Director of Enforcement and for six months as Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics. He oversaw the economic analysis of major mergers in diverse industries, such as telecommunications, agriculture, and healthcare. He later served as the testifying expert for DOJ in United States v. UPM-Kymmene in its successful opposition to the labelstock merger, and he served as an expert for DOJ in several other prominent matters, including WorldCom/Sprint, General Electric/Honeywell, and News Corp/DirecTV.

From 1995 to 1996 Dr. Schwartz served at the President′s Council of Economic Advisers as the Senior Economist responsible for antitrust, regulated industries, and other areas in industrial organization. Among other things, he worked on the Telecommunications Act of 1996, competition in satellite services, and electric utility restructuring.

Dr. Schwartz specializes in the application of industrial organization and microeconomic theory to competition and regulatory matters. Besides his government work, he has served as an expert economist for private parties on numerous merger and conduct matters involving issues of horizontal and vertical restraints and exclusionary practices, including the FCC′s television stations ownership cap, the AT&T/SBC merger, net neutrality, and the proposed search advertising alliance between Yahoo! and Google. Currently, Dr. Schwartz is serving as a testifying expert on behalf of AirTran Airways, Inc., in In re Delta/Airtran Airline Baggage Fee Antitrust Litigation. He has published extensively in leading professional journals on topics in antitrust, industrial organization, regulation, and telecommunications.

"We are delighted to be working with Dr. Schwartz again," said George Rozanski, co-chair of Bates White's Antitrust and Competition Practice. "Marius has tremendous expertise in the antitrust analysis of horizontal and vertical mergers, vertical restraints, and matters in the communications industries. He combines a rigorous academic background with extensive practical experience in antitrust enforcement and the development of economic policy."

Dr. Schwartz is one of five former FCC Chief Economists affiliated with Bates White, a group that includes Drs. Martin Perry, Leslie Marx, Gregory Crawford, and Joseph Farrell.

SOURCE Bates White

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