ABA Antitrust Law Section sponsors one-day forum focused on gender, inclusivity

The American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section will convene an in-person Women.Connected Roundtable in the nation’s capital, featuring programs and discussions centered on current trends in antitrust and consumer protection with special focus on gender and inclusivity.

The “Women.Connected Roundtable,” sponsored by the ABA Antitrust Law Section, takes place today, January 26, at the Riggs Hotel in Washington, D.C. The roundtable will open at 9 a.m. with brief remarks from Patricia A. Brink, acting deputy director of the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Brink will also moderate the closing panel, “Enforcers Panel: Leaders in Antitrust,” with panelists Elinor Hoffman, chief, Antitrust Bureau at Office of the New York Attorney General; Doha Mekki, principal deputy assistant attorney general, U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, Washington; and Jeanne Pratt, senior deputy commissioner, Competition Bureau Canada, Gatineau, Ontario.

Other panels include:

• “Updates on Gender Competition and Consumer Protection Research” — The panel will review progress made on gender research since a November 2018 half-day workshop, “What’s Gender Got to Do with Competition?,” and analyze additional areas for further research, authorship and policy reform. Then, panelists explored a potential research agenda of issues at the intersection of gender equality and competition and consumer protection, including women as sellers and/or consumers within markets.

• “Quick Hits: Algorithmic Biases and Economic Harms” — Algorithms are increasingly used to automate decision-making. But who is accountable for the decisions and how should we think about accountability and effects? The conversation between moderator Erika Douglas, assistant professor of law at Temple University in Philadelphia, and FTC Commissioner Rebecca K. Slaughter will focus on these topics, as well as whether the available tools under antitrust frameworks are the correct ones.

• “Leadership in Time of Crisis” — The pandemic and other challenges during the past two years have had a disproportionate impact on women, including women of color. This panel will look at what has been done and what should be done to not lose women and diversity in the antitrust sector of the legal profession. It will also look at existing barriers and efforts, such as engaging allies, to develop a level playing field.

• “Quick Hits: Privacy, Gender and the Misuse of Data” — The scope of privacy laws are being reviewed and reconsidered around the globe. The approach raises questions: Does certain privacy-related breaches impact certain groups more so than others, and are certain privacy rights more readily available to certain segments? The panel of experts examine these issues.

For additional information on the ABA Antitrust Law Section, visit www.americanbar.org/groups/antitrust_law.