Civil Enforcement Organizational Changes

This past year, the Antitrust Division created two new offices within its civil enforcement program—the Civil Conduct Task Force and the Office of Decree Enforcement and Compliance, renamed the Office of Civil Operations and clarified its responsibilities, and reapportioned commodities within the civil litigating sections. The Division also promoted a number of new managers and other career attorneys throughout the civil enforcement program.

The Civil Conduct Task Force (“CCTF”) works with the Division’s other civil litigating sections as well as the Division’s New York, Chicago, and San Francisco offices to identify and pursue conduct investigations that require additional focus and resources. CCTF is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting civil violations of the antitrust laws in collaboration with attorneys from the other civil litigating sections who have relevant industry experience. Lee Berger has been named Chief of CCTF and Miriam (Mimi) Vishio has been named Assistant Chief. CCTF’s full-time staff includes two career attorneys, Jeffrey Negrette and Kathleen Kiernan, who have experience working on conduct matters in sections across the Division. In addition, one attorney from each of the other civil litigating sections has been designated to spend part of their time working with CCTF.

The Office of Decree Enforcement and Compliance (“ODEC”) has primary responsibility for judgment enforcement in civil matters and works with the Division’s civil litigating sections, judgment monitors, and compliance officers to ensure that consent decrees are effectively implemented and parties comply with the decrees’ requirements. ODEC also advises the Division’s criminal sections when parties seek credit at the charging stage for corporate compliance programs. Lawrence (Larry) Reicher has been named Chief of ODEC. Ashley Kaplan and Michele Trichler joined ODEC in 2021 as trial attorneys to work on all aspects of ODEC’s mission.

The Office of Civil Operations (“OPS”) (formerly the Office of Operations) was renamed to reflect its primary focus on the civil enforcement program. OPS coordinates and implements policies and procedures affecting the Division’s civil enforcement program and serves as a resource for the Division’s civil litigating sections on issues of Division policy and practice. It advises civil staff on substantive and procedural issues and reviews and analyzes all civil recommendations submitted for Front Office approval (e.g., second requests, civil investigative demands, settlements, recommendations for enforcement actions). OPS facilitates collaboration across the Division’s civil enforcement program. Amy R. Fitzpatrick has been named Chief of OPS. OPS is also staffed with a number of Counsel for Civil Operations: Tracy Fisher, Soyoung (Jenny) Choe, and Elizabeth A. Gudis. They are experienced career attorneys with a combined 35 years of service with the Division and a broad range of experience in the Division’s civil enforcement program.

The Division recently reallocated and redistributed responsibility for a number of commodities across its civil litigating sections, in order to balance the workload across the sections and consolidate expertise in similar commodities within each section. Several sections have been renamed to reflect their new mix of commodities. The renamed sections are: Financial Services, FinTech, and Banking (FFB); Media, Entertainment, and Communications (MEC); and Technology and Digital Platforms (TDP). The new section names were approved by Congress on January 4, 2021.

Finally, in addition to the individuals mentioned above, the Division promoted a number of other talented and dedicated career employees to positions of leadership within the civil enforcement program: Jennifer Dixton was named Assistant Chief of the Competition Policy and Advocacy Section; Nickolai Levin was named Assistant Chief of the Appellate Section; William Jones was named Counsel to the Director of Civil Litigation; Chan Mazumdar was named Special Counsel for Agriculture; James Attridge was named Acting Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General; Cory Brader Leuchten was named Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General; Thomas DeMatteo was named Attorney Advisor to the Assistant Attorney General; and Daniel Guarnera was named Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General.