Overview

Elyse Dorsey is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Elyse's practice encompasses a wide array of antitrust and competition matters across the globe. She is uniquely situated to advise clients in domestic and international competition matters, given her combination of government and private practice experience.

Elyse has a focus in cutting edge competition issues, as well as privacy, data security, and consumer protection matters. She has represented clients across levels of government, from state agencies to the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining Kirkland, Elyse served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Her work at the Antitrust Division covered a spectrum of legal and policy matters, including IP and technology issues, the Division's appellate and amicus brief programs, and its international and competition policy efforts. Elyse joined the Division from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, where she served as Attorney Advisor to Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips. While at the Commission, she advised on key cases, matters, and policies affecting industries across the economy--from digital and tech to pharmaceuticals and hospitals and more.

Elyse is a recognized thought leader in the antitrust and competition communities. She has been a frequent nominee and recipient of antitrust writing awards for her scholarship in this space. She has also served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University's Scalia Law School for several years, helping to launch their Antitrust LL.M. program; and she previously served as a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia.

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Thought Leadership

Publications

Author, “Income Inequality, Job Polarization, and the Redistrubitive Power of Antitrust,” George Mason Law Review, 2022

Author, “Antitrust in Retrograde: The Consumer Welfare Standard, Socio-Political Goals, and the Future of Enforcement,” The Global Antitrust Institute Report on the Digital Economy, 2020

Author, “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better – Except in Big Tech? Antitrust Law's New Inhospitality Tradition,” Kansas Law Review, Vol. 68(5), 2020

Author, “Consumer Welfare & the Rule of Law: The Case Against the New Populist Antitrust Movement,” 47 Pepperdine Law Review 861, 2020

Co-Author, “Requiem for a Paradox: The Dubious Rise and Inevitable Fall of Hipster Antitrust,” 51 Arizona State Law Journal 293, 2019

Co-Author, “Hipster Antitrust Meets Public Choice Economics: The Consumer Welfare Standard, Rule of Law, and Rent Seeking,” Competition Policy International Antitrust Chronicle, 2018

Co-Author, “State Licensing Boards, Antitrust, and Innovation,” Regulatory Transparency Project, 2017 & The Journal of Law, Economics & Policy

Co-Author, “Antitrust Analysis of Big Data,” 2 Competition Law & Policy Debate 35, 2016

Co-Author, “Exclusionary Conduct in Antitrust,” 89 St. John's Law Review 101, 2015

Author, “Building Patent Portfolios to Facilitate Cross-Licensing Agreements: Implications for Merger Efficiency Analysis,” Science and Technology Law Review, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2013

Co-Author, “How the Google Consent Order Alters the Process and Outcomes of FRAND Bargaining,” 20 George Mason Law Review, 979, 2013

Recognition

Recognized by The Legal 500 United States for:

  • Antitrust: Cartel, 2023
  • Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Defense, 2023

Best Article Award, Antitrust Writing Awards, Concurrences & George Washington University Law School, 2019

Memberships & Affiliations

Adjunct Professor, George Mason University Scalia Law School, 2018–Present

Visiting Scholar, University of Virginia, 2021–2022

Credentials

Admissions & Qualifications

  • 2014District of Columbia
  • 2012Virginia

Courts

  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
  • United States District Court for the District of Columbia

Education

  • George Mason University School of LawJ.D.summa cum laude2012

    Journal of Law, Economics, & Policy

    Supreme Court Clinic

    Summer Antitrust Fellow, American Bar Association, 2012

  • Clemson UniversityB.A., Political Science; Economics Minorsumma cum laude2008
    Calhoun Honors College