Biography: Competition

James F Rill is one of America's foremost antitrust attorneys. He is actively engaged in representation of firms involved in merger and unilateral conduct activities before US and foreign antitrust agencies.

Mr Rill has served as assistant attorney general in charge of the US DOJ antitrust division and also as chairman of the ABA's section of antitrust law. During his tenure as assistant attorney general, he negotiated the US-European Union Antitrust Cooperation Agreement of 1991 and issued the first joint FTC and DOJ Horizontal Merger Guidelines in 1992.

In 1997, Mr Rill was appointed by attorney general Janet Reno and assistant attorney general Joel Klein as co-chair of the Justice Department's international competition policy advisory committee, with a mandate to recommend future international antitrust policy initiatives. The recommendations in the committee's February 2000 report are being pursued in the US and overseas. Foremost among these recommendations was the proposal to create a global competition forum that would serve as a mechanism for government competition authorities to meet and confer on antitrust issues. This recommendation was background for what became the International Competition Network.

Mr Rill was chairman of the BIAC representation to the OECD competition committee from 2005-2007 and vice-chairman from 1993-2005. He currently serves on the ABA section of antitrust law international task force and is vice-chairman of the competition committee of the United States Council for International Business. He has recently been honoured by the Global Competition Review and the ABA section of antitrust law with their Lifetime Achievement awards.