Lecturer Bios
Yves Botteman
Described by The Legal 500 EMEA as “a very passionate young partner with brilliant knowledge of antitrust law and cases,” Yves Botteman represents companies in high-profile cartel investigations and has secured early termination without fines or very favorable outcomes in several recent European Commission proceedings. In that capacity, he works in close coordination with his US colleagues in order to devise the most effective defense strategy on both sides of the Atlantic, taking into account the benefits of cooperation and settlements with the antitrust regulators. He also advises companies in abuse of dominance litigation and antitrust commitments proceedings and has been instrumental in obtaining the necessary merger approvals in several large acquisitions and strategic joint ventures.
With more than 15 years of experience in Brussels and Washington, Mr. Botteman has gained substantial exposure to the transport, media & internet, chemicals, automotive, mining, insurance and consumer products industries.
Mr. Botteman frequently advises on competition issues arising from:
Data-collection and information sharing activities within trade associations
Patent and know-how licensing (including FRAND royalties in relation to the licensing of standard essential patents), and IP settlement agreements
Distribution (in particular on online sales restrictions, resale price maintenance and most-favored-nation clauses)
He also frequently assists clients in implementing antitrust compliance programs and conducting audits.
Mr. Botteman regularly speaks at the American Bar Association and other global antitrust fora on topical issues of EU competition law and lectures on the antitrust aspects of IP licensing.
William H. Efron
William H. Efron is the Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Northeast Regional Office. He previously served as Acting Regional Director from March 2012 to June 2012. Prior to joining the FTC in 2009, Mr. Efron was an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Todd Marlin
Todd Marlin's main areas of expertise are Electronic Discovery, Litigation Readiness and Data Analysis with a focus on strategic consulting, identification, preservation, collection, extraction, review, and production of electronic records in support of all phases of litigation and investigation. Specializing in the creation of custom models and analyses, his team works to identify, expose and demonstrate relationships, trends, and patterns within complex and disparate data. Mr. Marlin has led numerous projects throughout the U.S. for Fortune 500 companies and their Counsel to decrease the cost and risk associated with eDiscovery and Information Management . He has appeared on behalf of clients in front of the NYSE and SEC. Mr. Marlin has also served as a Neutral Expert and has been appointed in Federal Court as a Special Master relating to eDiscovery disputes.
Steven Mack
Assistant Field Director, New York Regulatory Audit Field Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Simon Holmes
Simon specialises in competition law, both contentious and non-contentious, and in international trade and customs work.
The former involves advising clients – major multinationals from the UK, US, Japan and elsewhere working in industries such as fast-moving consumer goods, media and high technology – on a large number of issues, including:
•Bringing, defending and settling all types of competition disputes
•Cartels
•Dawn raids
•Compliance programmes
•Information exchange
•Dominance
•Pricing
•Discounts
•Promotions
•Parallel trade
•Refusals to supply
•State aid
•Public procurement
•The application of competition law to a wide range of commercial agreements – both on- and offline
Simon also regularly advises on mergers under UK and EU law, acting for one of the merging parties or for third parties, such as complainants or investors. His trade work covers such matters as anti-dumping, customs issues and other forms of trade protectionism.
He works in Brussels on a regular basis. As a result, he has close contacts with the European Commission, Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Competition Commission.
Sarah H. McConnell, Esq.
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of ABM since September 2014; Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of ABM from May 2008 to September 2014; Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of ABM from September 2007 to May 2008; Vice President, Assistant General Counsel and Secretary of Fisher Scientific International Inc. from December 2005 to November 2006; Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of Fisher Scientific International Inc. from July 2005 to December 2005; General Counsel of Benchmark Electronics, Inc. from November 2004 to July 2005; Vice President and General Counsel of Fisher Healthcare, a division of Fisher Scientific International Inc. from September 2002 to November 2004.
Sanjay Bhandari
Sanjay leads the Forensic e-Disclosure team, which advises clients that need to assess paper and electronic evidence of the purposes of a dispute, investigation, transaction, regulatory, internal or other review.
Sanjay is a qualified litigation solicitor with over 12 years' experience managing cross-border disputes including many disputes and investigations involving large scale document production. He has advised businesses in a wide variety of sectors including pharmaceutical, financial services, energy, consumer products, professional services (in particular, law firms) and the public sector.
Sanjay also advises clients on records risk management strategies, an area of increasing concern to businesses dealing with the risks associated with quickly expanding electronic records.
Philipp Girardet
Philipp advises on a broad range of EU and UK competition law and regulatory issues across different industry sectors, including:
•FMCG
•Manufacturing
•Online services
•Music
•Private equity
•Transport
•Telecommunications.
He has particular expertise in the field of mergers and cartels, particularly in relation to complex cross-border and intellectual property-related issues.
He has advised on contentious matters before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Paul Hughes, Esq.
Paul Hughes is European Competition Counsel in Steptoe's London office, where he is a member of the Antitrust & Competition Group. Mr. Hughes’ practice focuses on UK and EU merger control, preparing and advising on merger notifications with the EU Commission and CMA. He frequently advises on competition law aspects of collaborative and co-operative joint ventures, agency distribution, and licensing, and he works with specialist strategy consultants on technology licensing and distribution matters.
Mr. Hughes has a longstanding career in the academic community, and he is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex.
Mark C. Katz, Esq.
Mark Katz is a partner in the Competition & Foreign Investment Review, Investigations & White Collar Defence, Retail and China practices. He has advised domestic and international clients on a wide variety of competition law matters, such as mergers and acquisitions, criminal cartel investigations, joint ventures, abuse of dominance, distribution and pricing practices, misleading advertising and compliance and other legislation governing foreign investment in Canada.
Mark has appeared at every level of court in relation to competition matters, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and has acted as counsel on several leading cases before the Competition Tribunal, including the first abuse of dominance and merger cases heard by that body. He also provides advice with respect to the application of the Investment Canada Act.
Mark has authored a wide variety of articles and conference papers on competition law matters and contributed to a number of texts and treatises in the area, as well as authoring and presenting policy briefs for clients on a variety of domestic and international competition-related matters. Mark is most recently co-author of The Competition Law Guide for Trade Associations in Canada and a contributing author to Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Canadian Precedents of Pleadings, Second Edition. Mark is also a member of the editorial board for Competition Law Insight and a regular contributor to the Kluwer Competition Blog.
Mark is very active in the American Bar Association and Canadian Bar Association, including serving currently as the vice-chair of the Trade, Sports and Professional Associations Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law, and immediate past co-chair of the international antitrust law committee of the ABA’s section of international law.
Maria C. Hermida, Esq.
Maria C. Hermida is the Chief Ethics Officer of Citigroup, and is responsible for the global Ethics Office, coordinating the investigation of concerns raised through the Ethics Hotline, and developing Citi’s Code of Conduct and Code of Conduct Training. Since 2004, Maria has held various positions of expanding responsibility at Citi, including General Counsel of Women & Co., a membership service focused on providing financial educational insights and resources to the women’s market.
Prior to joining Citi, Maria was Deputy General Counsel for Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., an independent securities broker/dealer and investment adviser owned by AIG. During her seven year tenure, she managed the company’s arbitrations, litigations, regulatory matters and customer complaints. Maria began her legal career as a litigation associate with the law firm of Shanley & Fisher.
Maria received her undergraduate degree in finance from the Stern School of Business of New York University and a law degree from Fordham University School of Law. She is admitted to the practice of law in the states of New York and New Jersey and is a member of various professional and industry associations.
Leon Hayward
Leon Hayward has been on temporary assignments concerning CBP’s trade mission since July 2010, first as a member of the Trade Integrated Planning Coordination Cell and currently as the agency’s pilot Account Executive.
Prior to these assignments, Mr. Hayward was the Assistant Director, Trade and Cargo Security, for the New York Field Office of U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP). As such, he oversaw all CBP activities related to the import and export of cargo through the New York/Newark Seaport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and Newark-Liberty International Airport.
Before arriving in New York in March 2006, Mr. Hayward spent 9 years at U.S. Customs, and then CBP, Headquarters, in Washington, DC. During that time, he held a variety of positions in the Offices of International Affairs and Field Operations. His last assignment at Headquarters was as the Director, Summary & Account Management, in the Office of Field Operations. Mr. Hayward started his career as an Inspector with the U.S. Customs Service in 1991, in his native Montana, and subsequently served as an Import Generalist in the Port of Cincinnati, Ohio, before beginning his Headquarters service in 1997. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife, Rosemarie, a CBP National Import Specialist.
John F. Wood, Esq.
John F. Wood is a partner in the litigation department who focuses on corporate internal investigations and compliance. In particular, he has extensive experience regarding the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international trade controls, securities and accounting investigations, and government contracts. He is also Chairman of the firm’s Defense Industry Practice Group.
Mr. Wood has conducted numerous corporate internal investigations and represented clients before multiple regulatory and law enforcement agencies. He has also assisted many companies in developing or enhancing their compliance programs and has worked on independent monitorships in matters involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office, and the United Nations.
Prior to joining Hughes Hubbard, Mr. Wood served in numerous high-level government positions, including U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Wood was the chief federal law enforcement official for the Western District of Missouri. He supervised a staff of 128 employees, including 68 attorneys and 60 non-attorney support personnel, and oversaw a broad range of federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation. He personally led the largest corporate fraud and securities investigation in the history of the district, resulting in guilty pleas by the former CEO and CFO of a publicly traded company and a multi-million dollar corporate fine for accounting fraud. He has also supervised numerous other high-profile cases, including cases involving allegations of importation of tainted pet food ingredients from China, funding to benefit a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in Pakistan, money laundering by a former U.S. congressman, an international tax fraud ring, steroid trafficking, the hiring of illegal aliens by several companies, and violations of the False Claims Act by a large health care provider. While serving as U.S. Attorney, Mr. Wood argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals and tried cases before juries.
Mr. Wood previously served as Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the third largest department of the federal government with approximately 180,000 employees and an annual budget of over $40 billion. As Chief of Staff, he assisted and advised the Secretary of Homeland Security on a broad range of matters, including terrorism, intelligence, preparedness, border security, immigration, law enforcement, and management issues.
Mr. Wood previously held several high-level positions at the Department of Justice, including Deputy Associate Attorney General and Counselor to Attorney General John D. Ashcroft. In those positions, he advised the Attorney General, worked on the Department’s most important civil litigation, and helped oversee the Department’s Civil, Civil Rights, Antitrust, Tax, and Environment & Natural Resources Divisions.
Mr. Wood also worked at the White House as Deputy General Counsel for the Office of Management & Budget, where he participated in the development of the federal government’s major legislative, regulatory, management, and appropriations initiatives. As Deputy General Counsel, he supervised attorneys and provided legal advice to senior White House officials.
Mr. Wood practiced commercial and appellate litigation from 1998 to 2001 at the Washington, D.C. office of a national law firm. He also clerked at the Supreme Court of the United States for Justice Clarence Thomas and at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for Judge J. Michael Luttig. Prior to law school, he worked on the staff of U.S. Senator John C. Danforth of Missouri.
Jim O'Connor
Jim O'Connor is UTC Climate, Controls & Security's Global Business Practices Officer & Compliance Counsel responsible for CCS's business practices and compliance programs. Jim joined UTC in 2003 as assistant counsel at UTC Power.
James T. Madden
Acting Executive Director, Regulatory Audit Field Offices.
Sandra Bell
Executive Director for Regulations & Rulings, Office of International Trade, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Fiona A. Schaffer, Esq.
Fiona Schaeffer is an international antitrust lawyer with over 20 years of experience practicing on both sides of the Atlantic. Clients entrust Ms. Schaeffer with the defense of “bet the company” criminal and civil cases as well as their most complex transactions. She counsels clients in a variety of industries, with a particular depth of experience in healthcare, financial services, energy, media and communications.
Ms. Schaeffer regularly represents clients in FTC and DOJ investigations and follow on class actions in the US and internationally. She also counsels clients on optimizing intellectual property rights and licensing, distribution and marketing practices without creating unnecessary legal risks. Ms. Schaeffer began her legal career in the UK, and has appeared before courts and regulators throughout the EU as well as other significant antitrust enforcement agencies around the world.
Ethan E. Litwin, Esq.
Ethan E. Litwin is Co-Chair of the Antitrust Group of Hughes Hubbard. For more than fifteen years, he has assisted his clients in gaining merger approvals, defending criminal cartel investigations, and litigating complex international civil antitrust cases.
Mr. Litwin has counseled U.S., Japanese, and European companies and individuals in many of the largest cartel cases in history, including the Auto Parts, LIBOR, DRAM, Cathode Ray Tube, Air Cargo, and Freight Forwarders investigations and associated class actions. In the transactional setting, Mr. Litwin has guided companies through the international merger control process, where he has assisted clients in all phases of the transaction, from the negotiation and drafting of acquisition agreements to compliance with Second Requests in the U.S. and Phase II investigation in Europe. Internationally, Mr. Litwin has represented companies and coordinated merger control compliance in more than 35 jurisdictions worldwide.
Mr. Litwin has represented clients in a wide range of industries, including human and animal pharmaceuticals, financial, insurance, transportation, media and entertainment, electronics, industrial chemicals, agriculture, paper and paper-products manufacturing, wine and spirits, information systems, and container manufacturing.
Mr. Litwin is an active speaker and author on a wide-range of antirust and competition topics. He is the co-editor of the ABA’s The Essentials of Merger Review, the co-author of International Mergers & Acquisitions: An Introduction, and the co-author of the ABA’s Indirect Purchaser Litigation Handbook. Mr. Litwin is currently the Vice Chair of the Antitrust Committee of the ABA’s International Law Section, a member of the Executive Committee of NYSBA’s Antitrust Committee, and a member of the USCIB’s Competition Committee. He has been named as a leading antitrust lawyer by Chambers USA, Global Competition Review, The Practicing Law Company, Ethisphere, and SuperLawyers.
Eric Trudel
Eric Trudel is the manager of the verification unit, which is part of the trade programs and CARM directorate within the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
Elisabeth S. Preston, BA, MPA, LL.B
Ms. Elisabeth S. Preston serves as the Chief Compliance Officer of Prestige Telecom, Inc. Ms. Preston serves as the Chief Legal Officer, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Allen-Vanguard Corporation (Formerly, Vanguard Response Systems Inc.). She advises Canadian and international companies in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, procurement law, anti-corruption, industrial security, export control and controlled goods, channel partner arrangements, licensing and other commercial transactions. She served as Vice President of Corporate Affairs and General Counsel of Exeltech Aerospace Inc., since September 2005. Ms. Preston served as Corporate Secretary of Exeltech Aerospace Inc. since September 7, 2005. She served as Company Secretary of Prestige Telecom, Inc. Ms. Preston has extensive experience with a particular focus on newly public companies and systems that reinforce their commitment to public company best practices. She was previously General Counsel and Corporate Secretary and Director of Human Resources at InBusiness Solutions, Inc., an IT services company. Prior to this, She was Director of Sales for CML Technologies Inc. and a business law associate at McCarthy Tetrault LLP and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Ottawa. Ms. Preston also served as Corporate Secretary, General Counsel and in executive management roles at public and private companies. She serves as a Director of Solacom Technologies, Inc., the Canadian Tulip Festival, Bell and Howell Canada, The Brown Shoe Company, iPolitics Inc and the CleanTech Angel Network. She serves on the McMillan Board of Partners. Ms. Preston is Vice-Chair of the Aerospace and Defence committee of the American Bar Association, International Section. She is also a member of the University of Pennsylvania secondary school committee. She is a recipient of the Ottawa Business Journal's 2005 "Top 40 under 40" award. Ms. Preston is also a frequent speaker on subjects ranging from Public Financings to Employment Law. She is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and holds a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in Public Administration.
Christa C. Wessel, Esq.
A seasoned C-Suite leader and Board Director, Christa Wessel has defined and led global strategies to consistently fuel profitability in market-leading public and private corporations across infrastructure, energy, oil & gas, healthcare, manufacturing, consumer products and agriculture-based industry sectors.
Christa has held chief accountability for the legal, human resources, governance and compliance, communications and operations portfolios in global organizations with annual revenues of up to $7.6 B and 19,000 employees. With a successful track record of spearheading transformative projects and initiatives in highly competitive, international businesses, Christa’s extensive hands-on experience spans both developed and developing markets including the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
Today, Christa is Executive Vice President, Global Business Practices and Chief Legal Officer for McCain Foods Limited, one of Canada’s leading businesses with substantial global operations. Her prior senior executive roles included positions with Siemens Canada, where she oversaw legal strategy and operations for a $2.3B business portfolio. In addition, she provided strategic counsel to corporations in the areas of international transactions, governance, mergers and acquisitions as a senior partner with two major Canadian law firms.
Christoph Feddersen
Christoph Feddersen is Assistant General Counsel at United Technologies Corporation, where he is responsible for antitrust and related regulatory matters worldwide. Prior to joining United Technologies, Mr. Feddersen was an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and worked in that firm's Brussels, Washington, and Cologne offices. Mr. Feddersen's practice focuses on competition and regulatory law, including merger control and antitrust law, and related litigation. He is the author and co-author of various publications in the fields of competition law and German and American corporate law, and is a member of the bars in New York, the District of Columbia, and Frankfurt.