David S. Evans

David Sparks Evans (born 1954) is the chairman of the Global Economics Group in the firm’s Boston office, and has broad experience in the economics of antitrust, intellectual property, and financial regulation. Evans has an international practice and has worked on matters in the United States, the European Union, China, Brazil, Australia, and other jurisdictions. He has provided economic advice on a wide range of industries but has special expertise in financial services, internet-based, media, and information-technology based businesses. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on platform-based (“two-sided market”) businesses.

Evans has worked on mergers, monopolization, abuse of dominance, and joint venture cases in multiple jurisdictions. A number of his matters have involved the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property and the antitrust of information technology/on-line businesses. His representative matters have included:

• Monster’s acquisition of Yahoo! HotJobs merger before the Federal Trade Commission
• WPP’s acquisition of Taylor Nelson Sofres before the European Commission
• Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick for various third-party intervenors before the Federal Trade Commission, European Commission and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
• Investigation of VisaNet and Redecard by the Central Bank of Brazil and other regulatory authorities concerning certain exclusivity agreements and practices in the payment card industry.
• In Twombly v. Bell Atlantic, Evans was chief author of amicus brief by economists submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of cert. and in support of reversal.
• Co-authored guidelines on Market Definition and Market Power for Mexico's Federal Commission for Economic Competition (COFECE)

Evans has worked on regulatory matters involving payment systems, consumer financial protection, derivatives regulation, and the regulation of exchanges. His representative matters have included:

• Analysis of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regulations for various financial institutions
• Debit card regulatory proceedings before the Federal Reserve Board on behalf of various financial institutions
• Regulation of the OTC commodity derivatives for the Government of Singapore
• Analysis of SEC orders concerning pricing of market data submitted reports and made presentations to the SEC on behalf of Bloomberg.
• House Financial Services Committee, U.S. Congress, provided assistance in putting educational programs together for Members during 2009 concerning the financial crisis.

In the mid-2000's, Evans and his wife, Karen L. Webster, were chairman and managing director respectively, of the now defunct eSapience public relations firm of Cambridge, MA. Karen Webster also is the founder of pymnts.com. An article on boston.comon March 10, 2007, quotes eSapience's website, which was live at the time, as describing itself as '"not merely a public relations firm, but a "new media and research entity that shapes the debate on issues that intersect law, economics, and policy" through "a global network of academics and other public intellectuals."' One of eSapience's clients was Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former president of the American Insurance Group, Inc., (AIG), who was forced out as chairman and chief executive in 2005 by AIG's directors. The directors did this after then Attorney General Eliot Spitzer of New York brought charges of fraud and other violations against Greenberg. eSapience was hired by Greenberg to create a branding campaign for him.

On March 10, 2007, the Boston Globe reported on the lawsuit that eSapience filed against Greenberg's company, New York investment firm C.V. Starr & Co., for allegedly refusing to pay $2 million in bills from the image campaign for which eSapience was hired. Several other publications covered the legal dispute, focusing on the ethical use of academics, such as Evans and Richard Schmalensee, dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management, in this rebranding campaign. On March 12, 2007, the New Republicreported on the lawsuit, with the subheadline: "How a shady, right-wing p.r. firmed tried to buy academic influence." Other media outlets, such as The Financial Times, the Daily Kos, HCRenewal Blog, Harpers Magazine on Washington, to name a few, covered the issue.

David Evans currently teaches economics and antitrust at the University of Chicago Law School where he is a Lecturer and at the University College London where he is a Visiting Professor. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Competition Policy International and the CPI Antitrust Chronicle and is on the editorial boards of Concurrences and The Review of Network Economics. He has authored or edited 8 books and more than 100 articles and book chapters.

David Evans has appeared before the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, European Commission, Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, and Securities and Exchange Commission. He has testified before the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee. He has also testified before various Federal and state courts in the United States and the European General Court.

Evans was a Managing Director of LECG (2004-2011) where he was the head of its global antitrust practice and Vice Chairman of LECG Europe. Previously he was Senior Vice President at NERA (1989-2004) where he was also a member of the management committee and board of directors. He began his career teaching at the Department of Economics and the Law School at Fordham University in New York.

Evans received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Economics from The University of Chicago.

• 2006 award for best scholarly book on business/management from the American Publisher Association for Invisible Engines: How Software Platforms Drive Innovation and Transform Industries
• Top 3% of economists worldwide based on IDEAS citation index.
• Top 20 law professors worldwide based on SSRN download ranking for last year.
• The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers & Economists 2011.
• Named among the "Top 25 Competition & Antitrust Practitioners" by Best of the Best USA, Legal Media Group