Old wine in new bottles: some observations about current monopolization litigation

Lawyers seldom have the luxury of speaking in generalities. The particulars of the cases and the client's problems we deal with usually limit our immediate concerns and thinking to the facts at hand. Facts, unlike the generalities law professors are allowed to dispense in the classroom or the unreal assumptions economists are sometimes allowed to ignore in constructing or applying abstract models, simply refuse to be put down. Because I count myself a lawyer first, at least when in the company of other lawyers, I welcome the opportunity to escape the limitations of particular facts and to speak at this Institute in generalities, namely some generalities about the current wave of monopolization litigation. Our hosts have indeed been generous not only by asking me to talk about the general features unique to current monopolization litigation, but by also asking me to be controversial because most of us are probably drowsy after consuming too much at lunch.