LOS ANGELES, January 22, 2008 – Sean P. Gates, a former Deputy Assistant Director at the Federal Trade Commission, has joined Morrison & Foerster LLP as a partner in Los Angeles, where he will practice in the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Law group.  During his tenure with the FTC’s Anticompetitive Practices Division, Mr. Gates litigated several high profile antitrust cases, including the trial of a monopolization case against Unocal involving patents and standards-setting issues, and the Realcomp II matter, a challenge to real estate multiple listing service rules.

“Companies developing, producing and distributing products in a global environment increasingly face complex disputes at the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property law.  Sean is a first-rate trial lawyer with substantive expertise in both disciplines,” said Steve Smith, co-chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Law group.  “Sean’s impressive FTC credentials and his experience litigating both against and on behalf of antitrust enforcement agencies perfectly complement our international antitrust practice,” commented Keith Wetmore, the firm’s Chair.  “Having Sean join us in Los Angeles after a distinguished tenure at the FTC is an exciting development for the office as well,” noted Greg Koltun, managing partner of the firm’s Los Angeles office.

"Morrison & Foerster has a unique combination of world-class strength in intellectual property and antitrust.   I'm honored to be working with such talented colleagues in a firm renowned for the caliber of its work and its commitment to client service," said Mr. Gates.

Mr. Gates serves on the Editorial Board of the ABA Antitrust Law Developments Annual Review, and he was Editor-in-Chief of the ABA’s Intellectual Property and Antitrust Handbook.  He is a former Vice Chair of the Books & Treatises Committee and the Intellectual Property Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law.  Before joining the FTC, Mr. Gates was an antitrust and IP litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson from 1999-2004.  In 1998-1999, he served as a Judicial Clerk for Judges J. Clifford Wallace and Pamela A. Rymer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He received his JD, summa cum laude, from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1996, and his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Berkeley in 1989.  After college, Mr. Gates was a Commissioned Officer for the US Army National Guard and worked as an engineer at both Allied-Signal Aerospace and Exxon USA.