Stephen Calkins (aa1412)

Stephen Calkins returned to Wayne Law in fall semester 2015 after being on leave since 2011. During his leave, Calkins served as a member of The Competition Authority of Ireland and director of its Mergers Division and later as a member of the melded Competition and Consumer Protection Commission of Ireland.

From 2008 to 2011, Calkins served as Wayne State University's associate vice president for academic personnel, while continuing to teach at Wayne Law on a limited basis.

From 1995 to 1997, he served as general counsel of the Federal Trade Commission, a position to which he was nominated by FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky. At Wayne Law, Calkins has taught courses and seminars that drew on this experience - Antitrust and Trade Regulation, Consumer Law, and a seminar - plus Torts. He has also taught at the universities of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Utrecht (The Netherlands) and served as Wayne Law's interim dean.

Calkins is in demand as a speaker, annually delivering many presentations on competition and consumer law and policy to governmental, professional and academic audiences across the United States and overseas. Before joining The Competition Authority of Ireland, he consulted with federal, state and foreign governmental agencies. He has testified before Congress and federal and state agencies. He is a prolific author with articles in leading academic and specialty journals. His books include Antitrust Law: Policy and Practice (4th ed. 2008) (with C. Paul Rogers III, Mark R. Patterson and William R. Andersen), Antitrust Law and Economics in a Nutshell (5th ed. 2004) (with Ernest Gellhorn and William Kovacic) and, as a co-editor, ABA Antitrust Section, Consumer Protection Law Developments (2009).

Calkins participates in a wide range of professional activities. He is a life member of the American Law Institute (serving on consultative group for projects on consumer contracts, corporate governance, data economy, and torts), a fellow of the European Law Institute, and a member of the advisory boards for the American Antitrust Institute and the Loyola Consumer Law Review. For the American Bar Association, he has served on the Councils of the Sections of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice and the Section of Antitrust Law (two three-year terms). He is a former chair of the Association of American Law School's Antitrust and Economic Regulation Committee. He also served as an adjunct professor at University College Dublin (“UCD”) Sutherland School of Law; during his winter 2020 sabbatical UCD appointed Calkins a Sutherland Fellow.

At Wayne State, Calkins served three terms on the Academic Senate's Policy Committee (its executive committee). He served as the Senate's parliamentarian from 2000 to 2007 and 2017-19. Previously, he served on various university committees, including the Review Advisory Panel for Economics and the University Promotion and Tenure Committee. At Wayne Law, he has served multiple terms on the promotion and tenure committee, budget committee, curriculum committee and faculty appointments committee. He was an elected member of the 2003-04 Strategic Plan Implementation Committee. Previously, he chaired the ad hoc committee on U.S. news and the task force on student recruitment.

He holds a bachelor’s from Yale University and a law degree from Harvard University. He is the recipient of the American Antitrust Institute’s Alfred E. Kahn Award for Antitrust Achievement, the ABA Section of Antitrust Law Fiftieth Anniversary Publications Award, the Federal Trade Commission Award for Distinguished Service and the Donald H. Gordon Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Calkins lives in Michigan, and co-owns (with his eight siblings) a summer place on Long Lake (near Traverse City, Michigan) that was established by his grandparents more than 80 years ago.

J.D., Harvard Law School
B.A., Yale University
 

Antitrust
Consumer Law
Torts
Antitrust and Trade Regulation: Current Issues (Seminar)

The Unauthorized Beginner’s Guide to Classical Music and the DSO Soundcard (July 10, 2023), The Future of Antitrust, 36 ANTITRUST 81 (Fall 2021)

Forward: Reflections on International Cooperation, M. Blachucki, ed., International Cooperation of Competition Authorities in Europe: From Bilateral Agreements to Transgovernmental Networks 13 (2020)

Back to the Future?, XXIV COMPETE 16 (2020) (published by the Jamaican Fair Trading Commission)

Why FTC Needs High Court Win on Equitable Monetary Relief, Law360 (2020)

Binding Arbitration of Merger Challenges: First Do No Harm, From the Advisory Board, American Antitrust Institute (2019)

Reflections on Matsushita and Equilibrating Tendencies: Lessons for Competition Authorities, 82 Antitrust L.J. 15 (2018)

Can a Single FTC Commissioner Constitute a Quorum?, in LAW360 COMPETITION, CONSUMER PROTECTION, CYBERSECURITY, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS, AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS (Expert Analysis April 23, 2018) (with John Villafranco)

Competition Law in the United States of America, Competition Law Today: Concepts, Issues, and the Law in Practice (Vinod Dhall, ed., 2d ed.) (Oxford University Press 2018)

A Cautionary Word about Competition Law, in Tim Clakins' Defending Your Brand: How Smart Companies Use Defense Strategy to Deal with Competitive Attacks (Palgrave Macmillan 2012)

Wrong Turns in Exclusive Dealing Law, in How the Chicago School Overshot the Mark 156-78 (Robert Pitofsky ed. 2008) (Oxford University Press)

Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika (USA) (with William E. Kovacic & Derek Ludwin), in Internationales Kartell-Und FusionSkontrollverfahrensrecht 46 (Jrg Philipp Terhechte, ed.) (Verlag Ernst und Werner Gieseking 2008)

Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., in Antitrust Stories ch. 7 (Eleanor M. Fox & Daniel A. Crane eds. 2007)
Coming to Praise Criminal Antitrust Enforcement, in European Competition Law Annual: 2006, at 343 (Claus-Dieter Ehlermann & Isabela Atanasiu eds., 2007)

Competition Law in the United States of America, in Competition Law Today: Concepts, Issues, and the Law in Practice (Vinod Dhall, ed.) (Oxford University Press 2007)

Civil Monetary Remedies Available to Federal Antitrust Enforcers, 40 U.S.F. L. Rev. 567 (2006)