International Center For Law & Economics Names New Competition Director

The International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) today announced that Dirk Auer has been promoted to the position of director of competition policy. In this role, Dirk will manage the center’s work on competition and antitrust issues in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and abroad.

Originally joining ICLE in October 2018, Dirk has served for the past three years as a senior fellow in law & economics, with an emphasis on antitrust, digital markets, and European competition law. 

“Dirk has proven himself an outstanding scholar with a nimble mind, able to apply the methodology of law & economics to a host of problems in creative ways,” ICLE President Geoffrey Manne said. “We are delighted to have him in the fold as one of the emerging voices of the next generation of law & economics scholarship.”

 Dirk takes over the leadership of ICLE’s competition policy program from Samuel Bowman, who will continue on as an ICLE affiliate as he pursues other interests. 

“For both good and for ill, we find ourselves in 2022 in an exciting time for competition policy,” Auer said. “European policymakers have shown renewed interest in using competition law to achieve a host of political ends, and some lawmakers and enforcers in the United States appear to be turning away from the longstanding commitment to the consumer welfare standard.”

“I look forward to my expanded role with ICLE and believe we can be a voice of clarity in these very important debates about the future of both competition and innovation,” he added.