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7-3.000
ORGANIZATION OF
THE DIVISION

7-3.100 Office of the Assistant Attorney General
7-3.200 Organizational Chart
7-3.300 Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement
7-3.400 Office of Operations
7-3.500 Washington General Litigating Sections
7-3.600 Specialized Sections
7-3.700 Field offices

7-3.100 Office of the Assistant Attorney General

The Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division is the Division's chief representative and is responsible for leadership and oversight of all the Division's programs and policies. The Assistant Attorney General is assisted by five Deputy Assistant Attorneys General, of equal rank, and by the Director of Operations. The specific organizational units subordinate to each Deputy Assistant Attorney General are illustrated on the Division's organizational chart at USAM 7-3.200.

7-3.200 Organizational Chart

[Organizational chart approved by Attorney General Reno on November 2, 1997.]

Assistant Attorney GeneralSpecial Assistants

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Deputy Assistant Attorney General Deputy Assistant Attorney General Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Operations Office

Economic Litigation Section Economic Litigation Section Communication & Finance Section Transportation Energy & Agriculture Section Litigation I Section Litigation II Section Appellate Section Appellate Section

Foreign Commerce Section Professions & Intellectual Property Section Executive Office

Chicago Office Atlanta Office Philadelphia Office San Francisco Office Cleveland Office New York Office Dallas Office

7-3.300 Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement

The Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement in the Antitrust Division has direct supervisory responsibility for the Division's criminal investigations and litigation. The Deputy assigns criminal investigations and cases to particular Division sections or field offices based upon the commodity or service at issue, the geographical area involved, the type of violation, and the availability of resources. In addition, the Deputy arranges for the provision of FBI support services for investigations relating to antitrust matters.

7-3.400 Office of Operations

The Office of Operations has direct supervisory responsibility for the Division's civil investigations and litigation. The Director and Deputy Director of Operations assign investigations, cases, and other civil matters to particular Division sections or field offices based upon the commodity or service at issue, the geographical area involved, the type of violation, and the availability of resources. The Office of Operations also acts as the Division's chief liaison with the Federal Trade Commission. In addition, the Office of Operations processes all Freedom of Information Act requests relating to antitrust matters.

7-3.500 Washington General Litigation Sections

The Antitrust Division has two general litigating sections based in Washington: Litigation I and Litigation II. Each has responsibility nationwide for commercial activities affecting specified groups of commodities.

These two sections are primarily concerned with criminal and civil violations of antitrust laws that affect national or multi-regional markets. They handle significant mergers and acquisitions, major civil investigations in which structural relief, such as divestiture, is anticipated, and conspiracies of regional or national scope.

7-3.600 Specialized Sections

The Division's remaining Washington sections have somewhat more specialized duties. The Professions and Intellectual Property Section, for example, is responsible for investigating and prosecuting all violations of the antitrust laws that involve questions of patent, trademark, and copyright abuse. This section also has jurisdiction over the professions (including health care), drug commodities, labor, newspapers and motion pictures.

Two sections -- the Transportation, Energy, and Agriculture Section and the Communications and Finance Section -- investigate and litigate antitrust violations, appear in proceedings before regulatory agencies to advocate competitive policies, and prepare reports to other federal agencies and to Congress on competitive issues. The Transportation, Energy and Agriculture Section, as its name implies, handles Division functions, including civil litigation, relating to energy, transportation, and all agricultural industries. The Communications and Finance Section is responsible for the fields of banking, finance, securities, and communications, including telecommunications.

The Foreign Commerce Section is primarily responsible for the development of Division policy on issues of foreign trade and international antitrust enforcement. The Section also monitors and participates in competition-related proceedings at the International Trade Commission, handles legislation relating to foreign competition, deals with international organizations concerning problems of competition, and coordinates the implementation of the Export Trading Company Act of 1982 and the International Antitrust Enforcement Assistance Act of 1994 on behalf of the Division.

The Economic Litigation Section, Economic Regulatory Section and Competition Policy Section, collectively the Economic Analysis Group or EAG, provide economic advice to the Assistant Attorney General and policy assistance to the Division's enforcement programs and competition advocacy activities. Economists serve as economic and statistical expert witnesses in trial and regulatory proceedings and are assigned to most enforcement matters, assisting in them from the initial investigative stage through final resolution.

Other specialized sections and offices include the Appellate Section, which handles all appeals arising from civil and criminal cases brought by the United States under the federal antitrust laws, as well as all amicus filings in antitrust cases, and the Legal Policy Section, which prepares legal analyses of new or unusually difficult issues of antitrust law that arise in statutory enforcement or regulatory agency proceedings and is responsible for handling all legislative matters.

7-3.700 Field offices

At present, there are seven regional field offices of the Antitrust Division, located in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. See Antitrust Resource Manual at 2, Addresses and Territories. These offices are primarily responsible for the prosecution of criminal activities that constitute per se violations of the Sherman Act, and for other antitrust violations (including those pertaining to mergers and monopolies) that have local or regional impact.

It is expected that most antitrust complaints or problems coming to the attention of the United States Attorneys will fall within the jurisdiction of the Antitrust Division's field offices. For this reason, the field offices will ordinarily be the appropriate contact points for United States Attorneys on antitrust matters.

April 1998 USAM Chapter 7-3