Source: United States Attorneys General 13
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
Every generation, someone comes along who’s just a cut above. Someone who is a leader who demands respect, admiration and reverence. Someone just a little smarter, savvier, sometimes a little funnier and just a little bit more charming. For the antitrust community of my generation, that person is Bill Baer.
I’d like to take you back on a little bit of a personal journey. It starts in the summer of 1996. I packed up my car in St. Louis to drive to Washington, DC after my first summer of law school to begin an internship at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s Bureau of Competition. There, I encountered two giants — people that I said, “when I grow up, I want to be like them.” People who are larger than life. They were smarter and more dynamic than the rest. And they led by example: with intellect, with vigor, with commitment and passion. I encountered the great Chairman of the FTC, Bob Pitofsky, and the director of the Bureau of Competition, Bill Baer. I had the privilege of working that summer at the Federal Trade Commission. I loved it so much, under Bill’s tenure that I decided to come back for my second summer in 1997 and then return full time in the fall of 1998. I literally owe my career to Bill Baer.
I was a junior lawyer at the FTC just getting started, but it was a time of excitement. In a sea of what seemed like receding antitrust enforcement, Bill motivated his staff to take chances. He motivated his staff to bring hard cases. He motivated his staff to litigate. And that’s what we did. In doing so under Bill’s tenure and leadership, he built the foundational model for the modern framework for antitrust enforcement. It is true that we stand on the shoulders of giants, and Bill your time at the FTC made the shoulders that we stand on today. Staples, Toys “R” Us, drug wholesalers — you brought so many cases that demonstrated that if you try, if you bring good, serious, smart, capable cases to court, they will respond. And the FTC showed that if you have courage, you can win. And Bill always encouraged the Commission to bring cases and investigate with courage.
Let’s fast forward to January 2013. Bill Baer takes what I view as the best job in the entire federal government, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division. After a time when the Antitrust Division had seen some difficult periods and difficult cases, Bill again instilled a sense of courage, a sense of togetherness, a sense that if we try, we can do. And it wasn’t easy. Bill confronted some of the most difficult challenges anyone in my job has ever confronted. At a time when people were concerned, as they still are today, about consolidation in the healthcare industry, Bill confronted not one, but two, simultaneous mergers of the largest health insurance companies in the country. The standard would have been to say, “Do we have the resources? Do we have the wherewithal to litigate both mergers at once? Can we afford to do it? Do we have the litigation expertise? Maybe we should settle?” Bill said, “Not on my watch.” He said we are going to litigate both cases. And what did he do? He litigated both cases. And guess what? He won both cases, working with the incredible team at the Antitrust Division. And those cases, again, created the framework for modern antitrust enforcement and demonstrated to the Antitrust Division that if you have the willingness to fight for what you believe is right, you can litigate a case, you can bring it to a court, you can explain it to a judge, and the law will meet you there. That’s exactly what Bill did. He also presided right out of the gate over the first big tech trial, the ebooks case against Apple, again, taking on one of the biggest companies the world has ever known and will ever see. And Bill, working with the incredible team at the Antitrust Division, succeeded.
He also presided over probably the most successful tenure of criminal antitrust enforcement in the history of antitrust, going back to 1890, the inception of the Sherman Act. That is an extraordinary achievement. Also, and I say this as somebody who has spent some time in St. Louis, at the time we never thought we could see real competition for the king of beers. We now have the top beer in the country that was made possible because of Bill.
Bill led the division with grace. With care. He led with confidence, sparkling intellect, empathy, humor, seriousness and most of all, integrity. And that is something incredibly special that we only get once in a generation.
Taking you along my journey, I’d like to fast forward to summer of 2021. I had the privilege and greatest honor of my professional life to be nominated by the President to serve as Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division. One of the first calls I got was from Bill. He was so warm and gracious. He told me to meet him in his office, which I soon learned was a coffee shop in Bethesda. And it was there that I went to “AAG school.” And over many coffees and many conversations, Bill taught me about managing up and managing down and managing over. Lessons that I would take with me throughout my tenure at the Antitrust Division. He shared his wisdom, his humor, tools of the trade, which I won’t disclose here as they are proprietary. And during my time at the division, Bill was always there. He was always on my side when I had a tough question or tough call. I knew I could always call Bill even without disclosing confidential information.
When I had questions about management, or questions about how to operate the division especially early on, I could give Bill a call and that sense of wisdom, calm and grace, helped me through during those first months, which were tough. Even when we saw a few losses, we had to stick with it so that we could build what we knew would be a formidable Antitrust Division. That Antitrust Division has since gone on to a historic string of victories. And Bill was there. He told me to stick with it and to keep our eye on the ball. And he was there publicly, whether it was a hit on CNBC or a quote to the Wall Street Journal. Bill was always there in a true, selfless way, to be on our side.
Bill Baer is antitrust. But antitrust is not Bill Baer. He is so much more. Bill is at his brightest, his happiest, his most compelling, when he talks about his beautiful family. He talks and glows when he is near his wife. His kids mean everything to him. But is perhaps most evident when you can witness the pure joy that flows from Bill when he talks about his grandchildren, who are here today. It is a beautiful thing to see.
Bill Baer is one of the finest antitrust lawyers and leaders ever to walk the planet. He is our modern-day Thurman Arnold, and our modern-day Robert Jackson. But to Bill, his role as a husband, father and grandfather is without a doubt his finest achievement.
Just as I had the privilege early in my career of thriving in the glow of people like Bill Baer and Bob Pitofsky, Bill had the same opportunity early on in his career. And it is fitting that today I have the privilege of inviting in a special guest, who Bill knew early on in his career. I think perhaps his claim to fame now is having worked with Bill in practice. Someone who is an extraordinary antitrust lawyer in his own right, an incredible leader and someone who has really been a guardian angel for the Antitrust Division. It is my distinct honor to welcome the Attorney General of the United States of America, Merrick Garland.