It is—of course—not the official job title, but President Donald J. Trump may have found his new M&A guru.

On March 27, Trump announced his intention to nominate Makan Delrahim to the Department of Justice. If confirmed, he will serve as an assistant attorney general in the Anti-Trust Division. He currently serves as deputy assistant and deputy counsel to the President. 

Previously, Delrahim was a partner at the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Los Angeles, practicing antitrust and intellectual property law. He was also an adjunct professor of law at Pepperdine University. 

Prior to private practice, Delrahim was deputy assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division at the Justice Department during the administration of President George W. Bush.  He served on the U.S. Attorney General’s Task Force on Intellectual Property, and as chairman of the Merger Working Group of the International Competition Network.

Delrahim also served as Commissioner on the U.S. Antitrust Modernization Commission, and as staff director and Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, where he initially started as antitrust counsel and was the principal staff architect of landmark antitrust merger reform legislation.

Previously, Delrahim served at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and practiced antitrust law as an associate at a national law firm in Washington, D.C.

Delrahim received his J.D., with high honors, from the George Washington University School of Law, his M.S. from Johns Hopkins University, and his B.S. from UCLA.

Once confirmed, Delrahim will almost immediately have a full plate. Among the mergers and acquisitions coming under his review would be AT&T’s $85 billion purchase of  Time Warner, Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto, and a Dow Chemical/Dupont merger.

 

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