Peter Whelan (lawyer)

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Peter Whelan
Professor Peter Whelan (Keynote, Keyan Competition Authority).jpg
Peter Whelan in Nairobi, Kenya, September 2017
Education Trinity College, Dublin and St John's College, Cambridge
Notable workParental Liability in EU Competition Law (Oxford University Press)
The Criminalisation of European Cartel Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
TitleProfessor of Law
Website https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/law/staff/242/professor-peter-whelan

Peter Whelan (born 1979) is a professor of law at the School of Law, University of Leeds. [1] A qualified New York Attorney-at-Law, Whelan conducts research in competition (antitrust) law and criminal law. [2] He published the first full-length monograph on the criminal enforcement of competition law with Oxford University Press. [3]

Contents

Education

Whelan studied at both Trinity College Dublin and St John's College, Cambridge. [2] In 2001 he was awarded a degree in law and French from Trinity College Dublin. [1] During this degree he participated in the Erasmus Programme and studied at the University of Poitiers in France. [1] In 2003, following an academic year teaching English in Harbin, China, he completed a master's degree in law at Trinity College Dublin. [1] He passed the New York Bar Exam in 2005 and then went on to complete a PhD in Law at St John's College, University of Cambridge. [2] While at Cambridge he was the Managing Editor and then Consultant Editor of the Cambridge Law Review. [2] In 2013 Whelan obtained a Certificate in Higher Education Practice from the University of East Anglia and subsequently became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. [4]

Academic career

From 2005 to 2010, Whelan was the Research Fellow in Competition Law at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in London. [5] [6] In 2010, he took up a lectureship in law at the University of East Anglia. [6] In 2013 he was promoted to senior lecturer in law. [7] That same year he took up an associate professorship at the School of Law, University of Leeds. [1] In 2017, he was promoted to a full professorship at the University of Leeds. [1] From 2013-2019 he was the Deputy Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies. [8] In August 2020, Whelan became the Director of the Centre for Business Law and Practice. [9]

In 2013 Whelan was tasked with writing a report for the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority which analysed whether Finland should introduce criminal sanctions to enforce its competition law. [10] The completed report was later presented to the Ministry of the Economy and Employment and the Ministry of Justice in Finland. [10] In requesting the Finnish Ministry of Justice to consider the arguments presented in the report, Director General Pekka Timonen of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy Labour and Trade Department stated that the report provided 'the basis for the justification of criminalising cartels and the justified need to do so from the aspect of the judicial system in matters related to competition'. [11]

In 2016 Whelan was appointed as a Non-Governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network. [12] Since 2012 he has been a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Antitrust Enforcement [13] and World Competition. [14] In 2014, he joined the Editorial Boards of the Romanian Competition Journal, [15] the Journal of Financial Crime [16] [17] and the New Journal of European Criminal Law. [18] [19] Since 2011 he has been the Managing Editor of Oxford Competition Law, [20] [21] which is operated by Oxford University Press. [22] He is a Member of the Council of the Society of Legal Scholars [23] and is an elected member of the Senate of the University of Leeds. [24] He acts as a Judge for the Undergraduate Awards [25] [26] and, since 2013, has been an Associate Member of the Centre for Competition Policy. [27] He has been a visiting professor at the Institute of International Trade and Law in Moscow, Russia, where he taught a course on contract law. [28] On two occasions he has delivered written and oral evidence on the enforcement of competition law to the New Zealand Parliament. [29] [30] [31] [32] He has trained members of the Romanian judiciary in EU competition law [33] and has presented his research at the National Economic Prosecutor's Office of Chile and to judges at the Competition Tribunal of Chile. [34] He was interviewed by the Verge on the implications of the European Commission's decision in its recent Google Search case [35] and has been featured in the 'Academic Life' section of Jurista Vārds, Latvia's main legal periodical. [36] In 2019, he gave oral evidence to the Competition Law Review Committee, a body created by the Government of India to review its competition regime. [37] In 2021, he became a member of the United Nations Working Group on Cross-Border Cartels, which is operated by UNCTAD. [38]

Whelan's work has been published in law journals such as Modern Law Review, [39] Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, [40] and Cambridge Law Journal. [41] Whelan has presented his work in over thirty countries across six continents. [1]

Selected publications

Books

Reception of his work

Whelan's work has received positive reviews from professors at Loyola University Chicago, [3] [46] the University of East Anglia [47] and Oxford. [3] [44]

Whelan has been shortlisted three times for an ‘Antitrust Writing Award’. For his work on Director Disqualification Order, Whelan has been shortlisted for a 2021 Antitrust Writing Award. [48] For his publication ‘Competition Law and Criminal Justice’, Whelan was shortlisted for a 2019 ‘Antitrust Writing Award’. [49] For his article ‘Cartel Criminalization and the Challenge of Moral Wrongfulness’, Whelan was shortlisted for a 2014 ‘Antitrust Writing Award'. [50]

For his article ‘Morality and Its Restraining Influence on European Antitrust Criminalisation’, Whelan won the ‘Reddy Charlton McKnight Prize for Legal Scholarship', an annual prize that is administered by the Trinity College Law Review. [51]

Whelan's research on cartel criminalisation was expressly endorsed in the New Zealand Parliament during the second reading of the Commerce (Criminalisation of Cartels) Amendment Bill. [52]

Whelan's work has also been relied upon in case law in Europe, Africa and South America, [53] in an antitrust decision adopted by the Swiss Competition Commission, [54] in soft law (guidelines) created by the Competition Authority of Botswana, [55] in two policy speeches of the then Chairman of the UK Competition Commission, [56] in a report prepared by the Australian Senate, [57] in a submission to Parliament written by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, [58] in a report prepared by the European Commission, [59] in a report prepared by the Research Office of the Danish Ministry of Justice, [60] in a report written by the Business and Industry Advisory Committee for the Competition Committee of the OECD, [61] in a report commissioned by DG Trade (European Commission), [62] in a submission to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee of the New Zealand Parliament, [63] in a report prepared for the Competition Commission of India, [64] in a report for the Cabinet Office, [65] in a report for the Korean Consumer Agency, [66] in an official report of the Competition Authority of El Salvador, [67] in a submission (by the Western Australian Independent Grocers Association) to the Competition Policy Review Panel set up by the Australian Government, [68] in a report of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in New Zealand, [69] in a report prepared for the National Economic Prosecutor's Office of Chile, [70] in a Background Note prepared by the OECD, [71] in a report prepared by the Chairman of the New Zealand Commerce Commission, [72] in an UNCTAD report, [73] and in a submission to the European Commission by the Federation of German Consumer Organisations. [74] Whelan's work has been cited in more than 400 academic pieces. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartel</span> Mutually beneficial collusion among competing corporations

A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers to limit competition and increase prices by creating artificial shortages through low production quotas, stockpiling, and marketing quotas. Cartels can be vertical or horizontal but are inherently unstable due to the temptation to defect and falling prices for all members. Additionally, advancements in technology or the emergence of substitutes may undermine cartel pricing power, leading to the breakdown of the cooperation needed to sustain the cartel. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Most jurisdictions consider it anti-competitive behavior and have outlawed such practices. Cartel behavior includes price fixing, bid rigging, and reductions in output. The doctrine in economics that analyzes cartels is cartel theory. Cartels are distinguished from other forms of collusion or anti-competitive organization such as corporate mergers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914</span> US federal law

The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipiency. That regime started with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the first Federal law outlawing practices that were harmful to consumers. The Clayton Act specified particular prohibited conduct, the three-level enforcement scheme, the exemptions, and the remedial measures. Like the Sherman Act, much of the substance of the Clayton Act has been developed and animated by the U.S. courts, particularly the Supreme Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States antitrust law</span> American legal system intended to promote competition among businesses

In the United States, antitrust law is a collection of mostly federal laws that regulate the conduct and organization of businesses in order to promote competition and prevent unjustified monopolies. The three main U.S. antitrust statutes are the Sherman Act of 1890, the Clayton Act of 1914, and the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. These acts serve three major functions. First, Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits price fixing and the operation of cartels, and prohibits other collusive practices that unreasonably restrain trade. Second, Section 7 of the Clayton Act restricts the mergers and acquisitions of organizations that may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly. Third, Section 2 of the Sherman Act prohibits monopolization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Price fixing</span> Agreement over prices between participants on the same side in a market

Price fixing is an anticompetitive agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given level by controlling supply and demand.

Collusion is a deceitful agreement or secret cooperation between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading or defrauding others of their legal right. Collusion is not always considered illegal. It can be used to attain objectives forbidden by law; for example, by defrauding or gaining an unfair market advantage. It is an agreement among firms or individuals to divide a market, set prices, limit production or limit opportunities. It can involve "unions, wage fixing, kickbacks, or misrepresenting the independence of the relationship between the colluding parties". In legal terms, all acts effected by collusion are considered void.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Trade Commission</span> United States government agency

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction over federal civil antitrust law enforcement with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division. The agency is headquartered in the Federal Trade Commission Building in Washington, DC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Union competition law</span> Economic law of the European Union

In the European Union, competition law promotes the maintenance of competition within the European Single Market by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies to ensure that they do not create cartels and monopolies that would damage the interests of society.

Predatory pricing is a commercial pricing strategy which involves the use of large scale undercutting to eliminate competition. This is where an industry dominant firm with sizable market power will deliberately reduce the prices of a product or service to loss-making levels to attract all consumers and create a monopoly. For a period of time, the prices are set unrealistically low to ensure competitors are unable to effectively compete with the dominant firm without making substantial loss. The aim is to force existing or potential competitors within the industry to abandon the market so that the dominant firm may establish a stronger market position and create further barriers to entry. Once competition has been driven from the market, consumers are forced into a monopolistic market where the dominant firm can safely increase prices to recoup its losses.

Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust law, anti-monopoly law, and trade practices law; the act of pushing for antitrust measures or attacking monopolistic companies is commonly known as trust busting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Wu</span> American legal scholar (born 1972)

TimothyShiou-Ming Wu is a Taiwanese-American legal scholar who served as Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy at the United States from 2021 to 2023. He is also a professor of law at Columbia University and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. He is known legally and academically for significant contributions to antitrust and communications policy, coining the phrase "network neutrality" in his 2003 law journal article, Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination. In the late 2010s, Wu was a leading advocate for an antitrust lawsuit directed at the breakup of Facebook.

Irish Competition Law is the Irish body of legal rules designed to ensure fairness and freedom in the marketplace. The main purpose of Irish competition law is to enhance consumer welfare. The key provisions of Irish competition law: (a) usually outlaw anti-competitive arrangements between businesses and economic operators ; (b) always outlaw the abuse of dominance by undertakings; (c) control certain mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures; and (d) control certain activities in the grocery sector.

The Fordham International Law Journal is a student-run law journal associated with the Fordham University School of Law. According to the Washington and Lee journal rankings, it is the 4th most cited student-edited international and comparative law journal in the United States. The current editor-in-chief is Samantha Ragonesi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division</span>

The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice that enforces U.S. antitrust law. It has exclusive jurisdiction over U.S. federal criminal antitrust investigations and prosecutions. It also has jurisdiction over civil antitrust enforcement, which it shares with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The Antitrust Division often works jointly with the FTC to provide regulatory guidance to businesses.

David O'Keeffe is an Irish lawyer. He is emeritus Professor of European Law, University of London, Senior Counsel of Dentons international law firm and a part-time European administrative law judge.

The Commerce Commission is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and regulatory responsibility for areas such as electricity and gas, telecommunications, dairy products and airports. It is an independent Crown entity established under the Commerce Act 1986. Although responsible to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, the Commission is run independently from the government, and is intended to be an impartial promotor and enforcer of the law.

Competition law theory covers the strands of thought relating to competition law or antitrust policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Calvani</span>

Terry Calvani is a lawyer, former government official and university professor. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, he served one term as Commissioner of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. He was also a Member of the governing board of the Competition Authority of Ireland, where he held the criminal investigations portfolio. He has taught antitrust law at Vanderbilt University School of Law, Duke University School of Law, the Harvard Law School, Trinity College Dublin, Cornell Law School, Columbia Law School and University of California, Hastings College of Law. He retired from the practice of antitrust law with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in April 2019. He is currently a senior advisor to Brunswick Group LLC.

George Ward Stocking Sr. was an American economist, who was one of the pioneers of industrial organization and an early writer on international cartels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiona Scott Morton</span> American economist

Fiona M. Scott Morton is an American economist who serves as the Theodore Nierenberg Professor at Yale School of Management. Her research in industrial organization has covered industries including magazines, shipping, pharmaceuticals, and internet retail. She served as associate dean of the Yale School of Management from 2007 to 2010.

Corwin D. Edwards was an American economist.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Professor Peter Whelan | School of Law | University of Leeds".
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Peter Whelan - Concurrences".
  3. 1 2 3 4 The Criminalization of European Cartel Enforcement: Theoretical, Legal, and Practical Challenges. Oxford Studies in European Law. Oxford University Press. 7 August 2014. ISBN   9780199670062.
  4. ↑ "Home page | Higher Education Academy".
  5. ↑ "Annual Report 2010" (PDF). British Institute of International and Comparative Law. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  6. 1 2 "| Newsletter | February 2010 |".
  7. ↑ Society of Legal Scholars, Directory of Members 2017, http://www.legalscholars.ac.uk/member-directory/
  8. ↑ "Centre for Criminal Justice Studies".
  9. ↑ "Professor Peter Whelan | School of Law | University of Leeds".
  10. 1 2 "The Report on Criminalisation of Cartels Was Presented in Finland - Antitrust/Competition Law - Finland".
  11. ↑ "Report on the Criminalisation of Cartels was Presented to Stakeholders - Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto".
  12. ↑ "School of Law news archive | School of Law | University of Leeds".
  13. ↑ "Editorial_Board | Journal of Antitrust Enforcement | Oxford Academic".
  14. ↑ "Dr Peter Whelan joins the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Antitrust Enforcement and World Competition - News and Events - UEA".
  15. ↑ Romanian Competition Journal
  16. ↑ "Emerald | Journal of Financial Crime editorial team".
  17. ↑ "School of Law news archive | School of Law | University of Leeds".
  18. ↑ "New Journal of European Criminal Law". 13 September 2016.
  19. ↑ "School of Law news archive | School of Law | University of Leeds".
  20. ↑ "Oxford Competition Law: Editorial Team". Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  21. ↑ "Peter Whelan has become Managing Editor of Oxford Competition Law - News and Events - UEA".
  22. ↑ "Oxford Competition Law".
  23. ↑ "Society of Legal Scholars".
  24. ↑ "Secretariat". secretariat.leeds.ac.uk.
  25. ↑ "The Global Undergraduate Summit - the Undergraduate Awards".
  26. ↑ "Dr Whelan joins the judging panel of the undergraduate awards". 4 May 2017.
  27. ↑ "CCP Associates - CCP".
  28. ↑ "Dr Peter Whelan undertakes a Visiting Professorship in Moscow - News and Events - UEA".
  29. ↑ "Dr Peter Whelan presented oral evidence to the New Zealand Parliament - News and Events - UEA".
  30. ↑ "Dr Peter Whelan - New Zealand Parliament". 18 July 2023.
  31. ↑ "Professor Peter Whelan presents oral evidence to the New Zealand legislature". 29 June 2018.
  32. ↑ "Professor Peter Whelan - New Zealand Parliament". 18 July 2023.
  33. ↑ "School of Law news archive | School of Law | University of Leeds".
  34. ↑ "Professor Peter Whelan delivers keynote addresses in South America". 11 April 2018.
  35. ↑ "What the EU antitrust ruling could mean for Google search". 28 June 2017.
  36. ↑ "Pītera Vīlena vieslekcija par konkurences tiesību pārkāpumu kriminalizāciju".
  37. ↑ "Professor Peter Whelan delivers expert evidence in India".
  38. ↑ "Professor Peter Whelan joins a United Nations Working Group on cartels". 17 February 2021.
  39. ↑ Whelan, Peter (2015). "Section 47 of the E nterprise and R egulatory R eform A ct 2013: A Flawed R eform of the UK Cartel Offence". The Modern Law Review. 78 (3): 493–521. doi:10.1111/1468-2230.12125. ISSN   0026-7961.
  40. ↑ Whelan, P. (2013). "Cartel Criminalization and the Challenge of 'Moral Wrongfulness'". Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 33 (3): 535–561. doi:10.1093/ojls/gqt010.
  41. ↑ Whelan, Peter (2012). "Legal Certainty and Cartel Criminalisation within the EU Member States". The Cambridge Law Journal. 71 (3): 677–702. doi:10.1017/S0008197312000864. S2CID   145459472.
  42. ↑ Parental Liability in EU Competition Law: A Legitimacy-Focused Approach. Oxford University Press. 25 August 2023. ISBN   9780198844839.
  43. ↑ The UK Competition Regime: A Twenty-Year Retrospective. Oxford University Press. 6 May 2021. ISBN   978-0-19-886802-6.
  44. 1 2 The Consistent Application of EU Competition Law: Substantive and Procedural Challenges. Studies in European Economic Law and Regulation. Springer. 2017. ISBN   9783319473819.
  45. ↑ "Current Competition Law Vol. V".
  46. ↑ Webber Waller, S., ‘Book Review: The Criminalization of European Cartel Enforcement: Theoretical, Legal, and Practical Challenges’ (2015) 38(2) World Competition 321
  47. ↑ Stephan, A., ‘Review: The Criminalization of European Cartel Enforcement: Theoretical, Legal, and Practical Challenges’ (2016) 37(6) European Competition Law Review 259
  48. ↑ "Concurrences". awards.concurrences.com.
  49. ↑ "Concurrences".
  50. ↑ "Cartel Criminalization and the Challenge of 'Moral Wrongfulness' - Antitrust Writing Awards 2014".
  51. ↑ "Newsletter Winter 2008 Register".
  52. ↑ "Commerce (Criminalisation of Cartels) Amendment Bill — Second Reading - New Zealand Parliament".
  53. ↑ Patrick Duffy Judgement; Legal document; and Sentencia
  54. ↑ Swiss Competition Commission, ‘Order of the Competition Commission in the Matter of Investigation 22-0391’ (‘Online-Handels’), 11 July 2011.
  55. ↑ Discriminatory Conduct Guidelines competitionauthority.co.bw
  56. ↑ ‘Key Challenges at the Competition Commission’, King’s College London, 28 May 2008; and ‘Investigating Markets and Promoting Competition: The Competition Commission’s Enforcement Role in UK Competition Enforcement’, Beesley Lecture Series, 18 October 2007.
  57. ↑ Australian Senate, Economics References Committee, ‘The Impacts of Supermarket Price Decisions on the Dairy Industry’, Final Report, November 2011
  58. ↑ Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, ‘Submission to the Senate Economics Committee: Inquiry into the Trade Practices Amendment (Cartel Conduct and other Measures) Bill 2008’, Canberra, February 2009.
  59. ↑ European Commission, ‘The Impact of Private Labels on the Competitiveness of the European Food Supply Chain’, Brussels, 2011.
  60. ↑ Rapport on kartelsager justitsministeriet.dk
  61. ↑ The Business and Industry Advisory Committee, ‘The Role of Market Studies as a Tool to Promote Competition’, Global Forum on Competition, OECD, 17 November 2016, DAF/COMP/GF/WD(2016)79
  62. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  63. ↑ Submission to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee on the Commerce Amendment Bill parliament.nz
  64. ↑ Bilateral trade treaties cci.gov.in
  65. ↑ Review of the evidence service.gov.uk
  66. ↑ "경쟁정책과소비자정책의연계방안".[ dead link ]
  67. ↑ Sesión III - Cuestiones de competencia en el sector de la venta de productos de alimentación: Prestando atención a la conducta empresarial oecd.org
  68. ↑ "WA Independent Grocers Association - Competition Policy Review Issues Paper" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  69. ↑ Commerce (Criminalisation of Cartels) Amendment Bill parliament.nz
  70. ↑ Prueba de la Colusión Centre for Regulation and Competition, Santiago, Chile, October 2010,
  71. ↑ Implications of E-commerce for Competition Policy - Background Note OECD
  72. ↑ New Zealand’s new cartel regime nysba.org
  73. ↑ ‘UNCTAD Peer Review Mechanism for Competition Law: 10 Years of Existence – A Comparative Analysis of the Implementation of the Peer Review’s Recommendation Across Several Assessed Countries’, UNCTAD, New York and Geneva, 2015.
  74. ↑ Federation of German Consumer Organisations, ‘Was Online-Käufer wirklich wollen, wissen sie selbst am besten’ 9 September 2009, Submission to the European Commission, Opinion Regulation (EC) No. 2790/1999
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