Antitrust & Competition
Fellows Program
The program’s purpose is to progress the development of positions, writings, scholarship, and communications to positively advance the public debate over antitrust and competition law and policy.
Meet Our Fellows
Jane Bambauer
Professor of Law at the University of Florida Law School & Beecher Eminent Scholar Chair at the College of Journalism & Communications
Jess Melugin
Director of the Center of Technology & Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Christine Wilson
Senior Advisor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Founder and President of EdenSpring Foundation LLC, Former Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission
Jane Bambauer
Professor of Law at the University of Florida Law School and Beecher Eminent Scholar Chair at the College of Journalism & Communications
Professor Bambauer is a professor of law at the University of Florida. She teaches and studies the fundamental problems of well-intended technology policies. Her research assesses the social costs and benefits of Big Data and how new information technologies affect free speech, privacy, and competitive markets. She also serves as the co-deputy director of the Center for Quantum Networks, a multi-institutional engineering research center funded by the National Science Foundation, where she facilitates research on economic and regulatory policy for emerging markets in quantum technologies. Her work has been featured in more than 20 scholarly publications including the Stanford Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the California Law Review, and the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Her work has also been featured in media outlets including the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fox News, and Lawfare. She was a former professor of law at the University of Arizona. She holds a BS in Mathematics from Yale College and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
Jess Melugin
Director of the Center of Technology & Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Ms. Melugin is a champion in the field of free-market technology policy. Her voice and research focus on the contemporary technology issues arising through antitrust litigations, privacy, free speech, and social media content regulation. Her writings and engagements have spoken volumes about congressional legislation like Section 230’s impacts to consumer welfare as well as First Amendment free speech rights. Her publications have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fox News, USA Today, Bloomberg Law, National Review, Forbes, and others. She has been cited in the Washington Post, Politico, and Variety, among other publications. Ms. Melugin graduated magna cum laude from Claremont McKenna College with a degree in government and art history. Her honors thesis explored the development of American antitrust law as it pertains to the Microsoft trial. Prior to CEI, Ms. Melugin worked at the Manhattan Institute and the American Enterprise Institute.
Elyse Dorsey
Partner at Kirkland and Ellis LLP
Ms. Dorsey is well familiar with the antitrust landscape. She has held many positions within government agencies such as serving as counsel to the Assistant General in charge of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Her work at the Antitrust Division encompassed a wide array of legal and policy matters, primarily relating to intellectual property (IP) and technology issues, the Division’s appellate and amicus brief programs, and its international and competition policy efforts. Ms. Dorsey joined the Division from where she worked as Attorney Advisor to Commissioner Noah Phillips of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and completed a detail to the Office of Policy Planning. While at the FTC, she advised on key cases, matters, and policies that affected industries across the economy—from digital and tech to pharmaceuticals and hospitals and more—and on issues related to the FTC’s hearings on competition and consumer protection in the 21st century. Prior, Ms. Dorsey practiced at an international law firm where her work focused on cutting-edge competition, privacy, and consumer protection issues in courts and jurisdictions across the globe, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Dorsey earned her law degree summa cum laude from Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and her undergraduate summa cum laude from Clemson University. After graduating from law school, Dorsey served as a law clerk to the Honorable E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Ms. Dorsey is currently a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis. Her practice encompasses a wide array of antitrust, privacy, and competition matters around the globe.
Theodore Bolema
Senior Fellow at the Mackinac Center
Dr. Bolema is the former founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of Economic Growth at Wichita State University and a senior fellow at the Mackinac Center in Michigan. Previously, he was a senior fellow with the Free State Foundation, director of policy research editing at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, principal with the economics consulting firm Anderson Economic Group, and a professor of finance and business law at Central Michigan University. Dr. Bolema worked as an attorney with Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP in New York and with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also taught at the Scalia School of Law at George Mason University, Wayne State University, and Michigan State University. Dr. Bolema’s research on technology policy has been cited favorably at least ten times in Federal Communications Commission orders, including the Restoring Internet Freedom order in 2017. He has also been cited on regulatory law and economics topics in numerous publications including the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, Politico, and the Los Angeles Business Journal. His recent research has been on the proper role of state attorneys general in antitrust policy as it relates to technology companies, the shortcomings of municipal broadband and better alternatives for local governments seeking to improve internet access, and how government agencies, particularly the FCC, can better use economic analysis to inform their decision. Dr. Bolema received his Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.
Christine Wilson
Senior Advisor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Founder and President of EdenSpring Foundation LLC, Former Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission
Christine is a senior advisor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer focusing on antitrust, competition, and trade practice with more than 25 years of public and private sector experience at the intersection of law, policy, and politics. Based in Washington, DC, she counsels senior executives and boards of directors on how to navigate complex and evolving legal and regulatory regimes to achieve their desired business goals. Most recently, Christine served as a Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) where she helped shape policies and enforcement actions in the fields of antitrust, consumer privacy and data security, and consumer protection. During her tenure, she also testified before the US Congress on several occasions and represented the FTC in bilateral and multilateral discussions abroad. Before joining the FTC, Christine was a Senior Vice President at Delta Air Lines where she oversaw the carrier’s regulatory and international legal matters. Prior to moving in-house, she was a partner at two international law firms where she worked with clients to achieve regulatory clearance for multi-jurisdictional mergers and to defend businesses in high-stakes investigations. Her professional experience ranges from aircraft and automobiles to veterinary services, video games, and virtual reality. She has worked extensively in the highly regulated fields of airlines, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. After leaving the FTC last year, Christine founded an organization to provide safe housing and comprehensive support services to survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
