Biography: Competition

Michael Byowitz is a partner with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz focusing his practice on antitrust law and policy, and principally advising multinational corporations on major domestic and international mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate takeovers. He represents clients in matters before the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general in the United States and also consults on investigations by antitrust authorities in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela and many other countries.

Mr Byowitz writes articles on antitrust issues and is a contributor to many legal publications. He is a frequent speaker on antitrust law and compliance in the US and abroad. Mr Byowitz is consistently ranked among leading antitrust specialists in peer review rankings (eg, Global Competition Review, Who's Who Legal, Super Lawyers, and Chambers).

Before joining Wachtell Lipton in 1983, Mr Byowitz served as a senior trial attorney, antitrust division, US Department of Justice.

Mr Byowitz represents the 24,000 members of the American Bar Association's section of international law in the ABA House of Delegates (member of House of Delegates committee on issues of significance to the legal profession). He has served as chair of the ABA international law section in 2005-2006, is former chair of three of the section's divisions (including business regulation and public international law), and is also former chair of the section's international antitrust law committee, and present co-chair of its international pro bono committee. Mr Byowitz received the section's Lifetime Achievement Award in August 2011.

Mr Byowitz is a member of the executive committee of the New York City Bar and chaired the City Bar's subcommittee that evaluated Elena Kagan's qualifications to serve on the US Supreme Court. He served as chair of the City Bar's Council on International Affairs (2006-2009) and as chair of its antitrust and trade regulation committee (1998-2001). Mr Byowitz is New York state co-chair of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation (and will receive the ABA Fellows award for outstanding state co-chair in February 2012). Mr Byowitz is also an honorary lifetime member of AIJA (the International Young Lawyers Association).

Mr Byowitz holds an AB degree in 1973 from Columbia College and a JD in 1976 from New York University School of Law (Order of the Coif and editor of the Law Review).