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The George Washington University Law School’s Competition Law Center (CLC) is proud to announce the appointment of four new Distinguished Scholars: Doug Melamed, Jon Nuechterlein, and Mark Popofsky.
These leading voices in antitrust law will bring their expertise to the classroom this fall, co-teaching with Professor Barak Richman a new course on Advanced Topics in Antitrust. The course will provide students with a rare opportunity to engage directly with a diverse panel of experts on the most pressing issues in modern antitrust law.
“GW Law is proud to host these distinguished scholars, whose expertise will advance the Competition Law Center’s influence and impact on the antitrust field,” GW Law Dean Dayna Bowen Matthew said.
Established in 2008, the CLC applies extensive international experience to advise governments and strengthen institutions tasked with enforcing competition law. Through teaching, mentorship, and engagement with policymakers, the Center equips the next generation of antitrust lawyers while advancing effective competition policy worldwide.
“This brilliant ensemble brings us unsurpassed insight into competition law at home and abroad,” said Professor William Kovacic, Director of the Competition Law Center. “Their formidable knowledge — based on broad experience as scholars, practitioners, and government officials — will be a wonderful resource for our students and the global competition policy community. I eagerly look forward to the great days to come.”
As Distinguished Scholars, Melamed, Nuechterlein, and Popofsky will also participate in the Center’s workshops, conferences, and student-focused programs, fostering collaboration across academic, professional, and policy communities.
“I am thrilled to welcome these scholars, policymakers, and professional leaders into the GW Law community,” Professor Richman said. “I have immense personal regard for each one, and I am beyond excited to collaborate with them and learn from them. I know our students feel the same way. I’m like a kid in a candy store."
Meet the Scholars
Doug Melamed
- Biography
Doug Melamed practiced law for 43 years before spending the 2014-15 academic year at Stanford Law School as the Herman Phleger Visiting Professor of Law. He was appointed Professor of the Practice of Law at Stanford in 2015.
From 2009 until 2014, Melamed was Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Intel Corporation and was responsible for overseeing Intel’s legal, government affairs and corporate affairs departments. Prior to joining Intel in 2009, he was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of WilmerHale, a global law firm in which he served as a chair of the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group. His practice included appellate and trial court litigation, counseling, and representing clients in matters before government law enforcement and regulatory agencies. He joined WilmerHale’s predecessor in 1971. From 1996 to 2001, Melamed served in the U.S. Department of Justice as Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division and, before that, as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General.
Melamed has received numerous professional awards and honors. He has been the Distinguished Visitor from Practice and an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, and he has authored numerous articles on antitrust and on law and economics. He is a member of the boards of directors of the Nasdaq exchanges and the American Law Institute and a Contributing Editor of the Antitrust Law Journal. He was for many years a member of the Yale University Council and a member of the board of trustees of Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Judge Charles M. Merrill of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Melamed is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School.
Jon Nuechterlein
- Biography
Jon Nuechterlein is a Washington, D.C.-based attorney and author with broad experience in government and the private sector. In addition to being a distinguished scholar for theCompetition Law Center, he is a lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Law and an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School, where he has taught seminars in antitrust and telecommunications law.
In December 2024, Nuechterlein retired from Sidley Austin after nearly nine years as a partner and co-leader of the firm’s telecom and internet competition practice. From 2013 to 2016, he served as general counsel of the Federal Trade Commission, where he oversaw the commission’s appellate litigation activities and provided legal counsel on a range of antitrust and consumer protection issues. His extensive government experience also includes positions as deputy general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission (2000-01), assistant to the solicitor general (1996-2000), and law clerk to D.C. Circuit Judge Stephen Williams (1990-91) and Supreme Court Justice David Souter (1991-92). He is a graduate of Yale Law School (1990) and Yale University (1986).
Nuechterlein is the author, with Phil Weiser, of the first two editions of “Digital Crossroads: Telecommunications Law and Policy in the Internet Age” (MIT Press first ed. 2005 and second ed. 2013). He and Georgetown Law professor Howard Shelanski are finishing work on the third edition of that book, which is scheduled for publication in early 2026.
Mark Popofsky
- Biography
Mark Popofsky is Chair of the Antitrust Group at Ropes & Gray LLP and a nationally recognized authority on antitrust law. He has taught advanced antitrust courses as a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, a Lecturer of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center for more than two decades.
Previously, Popofsky served as Senior Counsel to Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he played a key trial role in United States v. Microsoft Corp. and argued United States v. Nippon Paper. He also served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Recently, Popofsky has served as trial counsel for Google in United States v. Google and secured a landmark victory in the California Supreme Court in Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen Inc.
Popofsky’s scholarship focuses on exclusionary conduct and the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property, and his widely cited writings include Defining Exclusionary Conduct (Antitrust L.J. 2006) and The Sherman Act’s Criminal Extraterritoriality (Competition Policy Int’l 2011), the latter of which earned the Burton Award for legal achievement. He clerked for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Brown University.