Nearly three months to the day
after the announcement that Christine Varney was President Obama's pick to be the top merger cop at the Justice Department, she's
finally official.
Varney, most recently a partner at Hogan &
Hartson LLP and a former member of the Federal Trade Commission, was
sworn in Friday by Attorney General Eric Holder, and in brief comments
joked that she had been doing her part to bolster the economy by
shopping, but said she's going to have a different role now, using
antitrust law to help consumers.
In a non-too-subtle jibe at her
predecessor, Varney noted that antitrust law has been described as the
Magna Carta of the free enterprise system. She said she "looks forward
to pulling it out and dusting it off and making sure it is well-worn."
Obama advocates campaigned on the notion that antitrust enforcement
needs to be "reinvigorated."
While former Assistant Attorney
General Tom Barnett, a Bush appointee, was not present, his
predecessor, Hew Pate, now a partner at Hunton & Williams, was at
the event, as were former FTC Commissioners Tom Leary and Tim Muris,
and current FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. -
Cecile Kohrs Lindell in Washington
See earlier story about Varney from Dealscape
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