The Gazette 1992

GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1992

LAWBfilEF

Edited by/Eamonn

G. Hall, Solicitor.

Conference on Competition

Policy

students an understanding of issues

in business law, tort and anti-trust.

Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and

Professor

Valentine

Korah

University College, London. Pro-

fessor Hawk has wr i t t en the

definitive textbook on mergers law

and has an extensive practical

expe r i ence

of t he

sub j ec t.

Professor Korah is the author of the

leading textbook on competition

law. Both speakers gave highly

informative, thought-provoking and

entertaining talks.

The Irish dimension to the speaking

panel was equally distinguished.

The Director of Consumer Affairs

and Fair Trade,

William Fagan,

gave

a fascinating description of the

enforcement procedure of the

Competition Act, including pro-

visions for so-called 'dawn raids',

which must be highly organised

and secret in advance, as the

element of surprise is vital.

Patrick

Massey,

one of the new three-

member Competition Authority,

outlined the prospective role of the

Authority over the next few years,

while

John Meade

of Arthur Cox

gave an account of some of the

pitfalls and inconsistencies of

current Irish merger law.

Each session included an extensive

question and answer period, which

was taken full advantage of by the

delegates. Indeed, the speakers re-

marked more than once on the

quality of the questions. The

Conference was attended by a

wide variety of delegates, including

practising lawyers, economists,

academics and representatives of

semi-state bodies. All agreed that

it was a highly useful, informative

and enjoyable occasion.

The proceedings of the Conference

will be published and sent to each

delegate. Copies will also be made

available at a small charge to those

who were unable to attend. The

CIEL also publishes a quarterly

newsletter wh i ch will keep readers

up-to-date on issues in business

law, tort and competition law. If you

are interested in subscribing to the

CIEL newsletter and/or receiving

the proceedings of the Conference,

you may contact

Maeve Doherty

the Centre in Economics & Law,

SSRC, University College, Galway.

A Conference on Competition Policy

was organised in University College

Galway recently, hosted by the

newly-founded Centre in Economics

& Law (CIEL). The Centre is a joint

venture between members of the

Economics Department and the Law

Faculty at the University, with the

purpose of conducting research into

areas of mutual interest to the two

disciplines. The Director of the

Centre,

Patrick

McNutt,

is an

economist who realised the need for

such a facility while on sabbatical at

Geo r ge t own

University

Wash i ng t on DC. In the US,

economists are routinely appointed

to law faculties, where their training

is considered vital in giving law

A particular interest of the Centre is

competition policy, which is a

subject which demands both legal

and economic insights. With this in

mind, and in the light of the recently

enacted Irish Competition Act, it

was decided to launch the Centre

by hosting a one-day Conference on

Competition Policy, which was held

on November 23 last.

The organisers were highly for-

tunate in persuading t wo of the

leading international experts on

competition policy to participate at

the conference. They were Pro-

fessor

Barry Hawk

, of Fordham

University, New York and the

international law firm Skadden,

Photographed at a conference on competition

'^organised

Economics and Law, University College Galway

Director CIEL UCG; John Meade, Arthur Cox; Patrick Massey, Competition

Atnhority, and Professor Liam O'Malley, Smurfi, Professor of Business Law UCG.