Jonathan Nuechterlein

Jonathan Nuechterlein is a Washington, D.C.-based attorney and author with broad experience in government and the private sector. He is currently a distinguished scholar at George Washington University’s Competition Law Center, 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.