First, I want to acknowledge all the great contributors to the Section’s content for the last year whose pictures and names you’ve seen on the screens throughout the lunch. The Section, our members, and the entire antitrust and consumer protection community are better off because of your contributions.
Second, I want to acknowledge all of my predecessors, the Former Chairs of the Antitrust Section, who are here in attendance today. All of us currently in leadership are doing everything we can to build on the great legacy you left us. Or as I like to say, I love the Former Chairs, I hope to be one someday.
Next, I want to thank the staff, led by Joanne Travis and Margaret Stafford but it really is a team effort by a great, large team. If you see them at any of the booths, please thank them – but quickly so they can get back to work helping others – but please join me in thanking them now.
Also, I want to thank our Spring Meeting leaders, Co-Chairs Sheila Adams James and Barry Nigro and vice chairs Stephanie Cheng and Andrew Paik. You’ll hear more about them just before tomorrow morning’s Chair Showcase panel.
Also, I want to thank all the session chairs, moderators, and panelists who will be putting on such great content for all of you. This process starts in August and continues right through Friday, with proposals and prep calls and written CLE materials – and plenty of emails to make it all work. So please make sure to thank all the folks who participate in any panel you see.
Finally, I want to thank all of you. And by all of you, I mean all 3947 of you as of early this morning. So yes, despite all the challenges, we have the second highest number of registrants here these three plus days. And I promise you, we’re going to make you glad that you came, just like every Spring Meeting.
You’re going to get the chance to mix and mingle with attorneys, economists, enforcers, in-house folks from around the globe, this year a record 70 countries, and nearly every state in the country – just like every Spring Meeting. You will hear from some of the best thinkers in the global antitrust and consumer protection community giving you the latest on the most important topics – just like every Spring Meeting. And those speakers you’ll listen to will have diverse views and, we hope, won’t agree on everything – just like every Spring Meeting. And you certainly will not need to worry about whether the speakers were selected because of an affiliation with a sponsor because we have none – just like every Spring Meeting.
Because as the global home of the antitrust and consumer protection community, the ABA Antitrust Section welcomes all serious thinkers with diverse viewpoints, backgrounds, and experiences. We think that collegial interaction with folks who don’t always agree with each other – in person, on panels, at parties, here at the Spring Meeting, at all of our meetings and in our leadership – can help every one of us get smarter and better at our jobs and help the antitrust and consumer protection community flourish. Or, to put it another way, the Section believes that a fair exchange of ideas is an important value and we can all learn much from each other, especially when the panels have the myriad viewpoints represented by our Section members and other registrants.
So, thank you for joining me in challenging yourself and looking to get better. And the Section will always welcome – or welcome back – anyone who agrees that a fair exchange of ideas is an important value.
Steve Cernak
April 2025
