November 6, 2013
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce that Scott Hammond, the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, will join the firm as a partner. Following a 25-year tenure in the Antitrust Division, Hammond will join Gibson Dunn’s Washington, D.C. office, where he will focus on criminal antitrust and international cartel matters.
Hammond is credited as a founding figure in crafting the Division’s leniency program that rewards voluntary disclosure of cartel activity in order to avoid criminal conviction. He rejoins former colleague and Gibson Dunn partner Gary Spratling, who also served as DAAG for Criminal Enforcement when Hammond served as Senior Counsel. Hammond’s addition will also complement the firm’s prominent global antitrust team, which includes Ali Nikpay, who recently joined Gibson Dunn after serving at the UK’s competition authority, the Office of Fair Trading, as the Senior Director for Cartels and Criminal Enforcement.
“Scott has been the preeminent antitrust enforcer in the U.S. for many years,” said Ken Doran, Chairman and Managing Partner of Gibson Dunn. “He is universally respected by leading competition authorities and practitioners alike, and as such, he will be well-positioned to work with our clients on global investigations and compliance matters. His deep experience in working on policy and enforcement issues with international antitrust authorities will be an invaluable asset to our clients around the world.”
“Scott is a long-standing leader of global cartel investigations and prosecutions, and his addition will ensure that Gibson Dunn will continue to be the ‘go-to’ firm for cartel defense work,” said Spratling, co-chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Practice Group. “He first established a model enforcement program that is being replicated around the world, and then was a leading force in facilitating international cooperation among antitrust authorities globally.”
“I wanted to find a home where I could hit the ground running by utilizing my experience expanding the Antitrust Division’s international cartel program,” said Hammond. “Gibson Dunn is the perfect fit for me. I will be joining an incredibly talented team with a world-renowned antitrust practice that is highly respected in the enforcement community. I am looking forward to working with my new colleagues in assisting clients to navigate the rising tide of cartel enforcement around the world.”
About Scott Hammond
As the former U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement, Hammond supervised the Division’s domestic and international criminal investigations and prosecutions, including reviewing requests for amnesty under the Corporate and Individual Leniency Programs. As DAAG, he led the Division’s enforcement efforts in a number of industries, including LCD panels, air transportation, auto parts, real estate foreclosure auctions, municipal bonds, construction, chemicals and coastal freight. Hammond also worked to increase international cooperation in cartel enforcement with other jurisdictions, including the European Union, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Hammond joined the Antitrust Division through the Attorney General’s Honors Program immediately following law school in 1988. In May 1995, he was promoted to Senior Counsel to then Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gary Spratling. In May 2000, Hammond was promoted to Director of Criminal Enforcement. In January 2005, he was named Deputy Assistant Attorney General, a position he held for the next eight years.
Hammond served as Co-Chair of the Cartel Working Group of the International Competition Network (ICN) from 2005 to 2013. He has served as the Antitrust Division’s liaison with the International Cartel Task Force of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section. He has regularly been a featured speaker at the ABA Antitrust Section’s annual spring meetings, as well as major conferences in 26 other countries. He has also served multiple times as a co-chair of the International Cartel Workshop, a bi-annual workshop sponsored by the ABA and the International Bar Association.
Hammond graduated with honors in 1988 from the University of North Carolina School of Law.