Antitrust Law
Neil Averitt practiced law at the Federal Trade Commission for over thirty years, helping to formulate policy on both antitrust and consumer protection issues. He has worked as advisor to one of the Commissioners, as assistant to the Chairman, and as acting head of the antitrust planning staff. He has written numerous articles on antitrust topics, and has contributed to the briefs in a number of Supreme Court litigations.
Neil is one of the nation’s leading experts on the state-action doctrine, Section 5 of the FTC Act, and the theory of consumer choice as a governing principle in interpreting the antitrust statutes.
He was the principal author of the Commission’s 1980 policy statement on its consumer unfairness jurisdiction, of the Commission opinion in International Harvester which formally adopted that statement, and of a successful amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court in the state-action case of North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners.
He has examined a number of specific industries, with particular attention to hospitals, supermarkets, drug stores, music and video distribution, advertising, and ocean cargo shipping.
He is presently the commentator and public-policy analyst for the newsletter FTC:WATCH. This circulates to a paid subscription base of officials at the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department, and leading private practitioners of antitrust and consumer protection law nationwide.