Announcement: AAI and COSAL Announce Judith Zahid as the 2023 Recipient of Hollis Salzman Memorial Leadership Award

The American Antitrust Institute (AAI) and the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws (COSAL) are pleased to announce Judith Zahid has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the Hollis Salzman Memorial Leadership Award.

“Judith is a highly respected advocate in antitrust, trusted by both the bar and the bench,” said Robert Kitchenoff, COSAL Executive Committee member. “Judith stands out as one of the most naturally gifted mentors and leaders in our community. She is known for leading with sincerity, empathy, and integrity while giving extra attention to nurturing women and other individuals of diverse backgrounds.”

Zahid is co-chair of Zelle LLP’s Antitrust group and Managing Partner of the firm’s Oakland, CA office. Her practice is focused on assessing complex antitrust claims and pursuing recoveries on behalf of individual corporate clients in many different industries, with a growing expertise in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. She has represented plaintiffs in numerous high-stakes price-fixing and monopolization cases, with recoveries from those cases totaling well over $2 billion.

Zahid’s colleague Jim Martin describes her as a “natural organizer who has made her mark in the bar through tireless work in the courts, with clients, with the ABA, AAI, COSAL, and other organizations. She exemplifies all the criteria of this important award – integrity, collegiality, leadership, equity, and quality of character. Her selection truly honors Hollis’ immense legacy.”

 Zahid has consistently advocated for women lawyers and worked to build female networks within the antitrust bar. She has shared her knowledge through an interview with the ABA’s quarterly Women Connected Spotlight, as a panelist for the Celebrating Women in Competition Law in California sponsored by the California Lawyers Association, as a panelist for the Self-Advocacy, Career Development & Personal Negotiation program sponsored by the Women in Law & Leadership Summit, as a panelist In the Mastering Negotiation: Negotiating for Yourself program sponsored by Women In Law Empowerment Forum, and more.

Zahid is a member of the AAI Advisory Board and of COSAL and has been particularly active within the American Bar Association Antitrust Section, having recently served on Council and the Nominations Committee. Her ABA work began in 2011 on the Civil Redress Task Force, which led to a vice-chair and then the co-chair position on the plaintiff-oriented Global Private Litigation Committee and for its past two global conferences. All of this work, from Task Force to Council, was done with and alongside Hollis Salzman, which helped cement their strong friendship as they together championed the plaintiff perspective and diversity within the Antitrust Section. Zahid is also a member of the California Bar Association Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section, past board member of the Women in Law Empowerment Forum, and steering committee member of the Cambridge Forum on Antitrust Litigation.

“Judith’s successful leadership roles, mentorship initiatives, and efforts to amplify diverse voices reflect her tireless commitment to fostering inclusive legal environments,” said AAI Acting President Kathleen Bradish. “She excels in identifying and mentoring a new generation of bright legal minds.”

AAI and COSAL created the Hollis Salzman Memorial Leadership Award in 2021 to honor the life of Hollis Salzman, a friend, colleague, and incomparable member of the antitrust community. The inaugural recipient was Lin Chan followed by Kellie Lerner in 2022.

One of the nation’s leading antitrust attorneys, Ms. Salzman spent more than 25 years litigating some of the world’s largest cases and recovered over $2 billion in settlements for victims of antitrust cartel and unfair competition practices. She was a champion of gender equality and diversity in her profession, embracing her role as a mentor and role model to other female attorneys, and helping to inspire them to shine on their own merit. “Women can succeed and lead blockbuster investigations, even in a male-dominated field, without losing their identity or acting in a way that is not true to themselves,” Ms. Salzman noted. Her tireless dedication to advocating on behalf of women included an extensive pro bono practice representing indigent women and victims of domestic violence. View a video remembrance of Hollis.

AAI and COSAL thank the members of the 2023 judging committee:

·    Lin Y. Chan, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP

·    Harry First, NYU Law

·    Meegan Hollywood, Robins Kaplan

·    Milton Marquis, Cozen O’Connor

·    Judge Jon S. Tigar, United States District Court for the Northern District of California

Kathleen Bradish represented AAI and Robert Kitchenoff represented COSAL as non-voting members.