Advocacy: COSAL 2021 Wrap up
What to say about 2021? It began with an insurrection at the Capitol that threatened our democracy, which is surviving for the time being, and is ending with a new variant of COVID that is spiking numbers of infections and hospitalizations, and one Democratic Senator who is content to stand in the way of bringing children out of poverty, addressing climate change, providing paid family leave and lowering the costs of prescription drugs. Sandwiched in between the beginning and the end, however, 2021 brought much positive news: the American Rescue Plan delivered life-saving benefits to struggling Americans; the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill will invest hundreds of billions of dollars to improve America’s infrastructure, which will also provide good-paying jobs and some investments to address climate change; workers are rising up, demanding better wages and working conditions and forming unions; and progress continues to be made towards diversity, equity and inclusion in our institutions.
2021 also brought much good news for COSAL and antitrust. President Biden has made antitrust enforcement a key element of his economic agenda. In July, he issued an executive order with 72 directives to the entire executive branch to more vigorously enforce antitrust laws and to take actions to promote competition. He appointed strong antitrust advocates to key positions in his administration, including Lina Khan as Chair of the FTC, Jonathan Kanter as chief of the DOJ Antitrust Division and Tim Wu as special White House advisor to the President on competition issues. Strong, bipartisan legislation is pending in the House and the Senate to reform the antitrust laws, and some of the bills even have a shot at becoming law in the coming year. I am pleased to say that COSAL’s advocacy was instrumental in getting a private right of action inserted into five of the bipartisan antitrust bills, two of which have already passed the House Judiciary Committee.
Despite the many challenges, COSAL had a terrific year. Here are some highlights:
Four law firms joined COSAL, bringing us to 47 law firm members and 54 members overall [Boni Zack & Snyder; Zimmerman Reed, Sperling & Slater; Keller Lenkner];
COSAL held 5 virtual events, one virtual fundraiser, and three in-person events.
Established the AAI/COSAL Hollis Salzman Memorial Leadership Award which was awarded to COSAL’s Incoming President Lin Chan.
Filed 5 Amicus Briefs, including 2 in the U.S. Supreme Court on the same day!
Authored an article in Competition entitled “Forced Arbitration and Big Tech,” by Heidi Silton, Rob Kitchenoff, Nigar Sheikh, and Geoff Kozen.
Created a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, led by Lin Chan, to focus on improving DEI within COSAL and the broader antitrust community.
The Attorney General Outreach Committee, headed by Dan Drachler and Paul Novak, helped organize a virtual event featuring Colorado AG Phil Weiser.
The Public Relations Committee, headed by Alex Barnett and Rose Clark, vastly improved the COSAL website and established a monthly newsletter. We also started a Twitter account, thanks to COSAL’s official tweeter Geoff Kozen.
Alex Barnett started a new committee, Climate and Antitrust, that is planning a virtual panel on the topic for next year.
The Policy Committee under Josh Davis’ leadership has also been very active, and was the reason COSAL was able to successfully advocate for private rights of action in a number of bipartisan antitrust measures.
All of that was accomplished under the able, proactive leadership of President Heidi Silton and the rest of the officers: Lin Chan, Alex Barnett, Kellie Lerner and Rob Kitchenoff.
In November, we voted in a new slate of officers, saying a fond good-bye to Rob Kitchenoff after 6 years of being an officer, and welcoming Greg Asciolla as Secretary.
I am so grateful to COSAL’s officers and committee heads and committee members for all the work you put in to make our organization such a success. It is a privilege to work with you.
I also want to say a special thank you to COSAL's sponsors, who continue to stick with us despite largely missing out on in-person events (although we did squeeze in three of them at the end of the year). We appreciate your support more than we can say. Thank you ABData, Angeion Group, Kroll Settlement Services, Epiq, RG/2, and Rust Consulting/Kinsella Media.
Finally, thank you Huntington Bank for everything you do to keep COSAL thriving. And special appreciation to Rose Kohles and Abby Van Nostran. None of this could happen without your good work.
As we approach 2022, with some trepidation but also great hope, I wish each and every one of you a very Happy and Healthy New Year!! I remain optimistic we will see each other in person and will get to celebrate our 35th anniversary in style together towards the end of the year.
