Managing Principal Andrea Okie Reviews ABA Panel on Regulation and Competition
July 17, 2026
How do competition policy and regulation coexist in the modern US economy? That was the dominant theme of a panel titled “Regulation Rollback and Market Competition” at this year’s American Bar Association (ABA) Antitrust Law Section Spring Meeting. The panel was moderated by Karina Lubell of the Brunswick Group (formerly of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division) and featured panelists Alexis Gilman of Alston & Bird, Elinor Hoffmann of the Office of the New York State Attorney General, Diana Moss of the Progressive Policy Institute, and Sarah Scheinman of Sidley Austin. Analysis Group Managing Principal Andrea Okie summarized the panel in an article published on the Antitrust Law Section website.
Much of the discussion traced how competition considerations are folded – unevenly – into regulatory review at both the federal and state levels, and contrasted the Biden administration's broad, enforcement-driven approach to dominant firms with the second Trump administration's deregulatory, executive order–driven push to lower barriers to entry. Panelists agreed that despite these differing philosophies, procompetitive reform faces persistent structural headwinds, and that practitioners advocating for such reform need to work within the “public interest” standards that govern much of agency rulemaking, tying arguments to prevailing policy priorities and grounding them in empirical evidence.
Ms. Okie's recap drew out several broad takeaways: that fragmented, inconsistent federal and state regulatory frameworks create both uncertainty and openings for advocacy; that competition policy tends to track broader political currents but also converges on shared goals such as market access and transparency even across differing administrations; and that structural barriers – capture, entrenchment, and limited enforcement resources – complicate reform regardless of which party is pushing it. The panelists advised keeping an eye on emerging business models and technologies, such as algorithmic pricing, and on state legislatures and agencies as areas to watch for where competition policy may be headed.