WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A. Douglas Melamed, newly appointed Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice, announced today that Jeffrey H. Blattner will serve as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General.

Blattner has been Special Counsel for Information Technology in the Division since 1998, serving as a top advisor to then Assistant Attorney General Joel I. Klein on the Microsoft case. As a Deputy at the Antitrust Division, he will oversee the Division's ongoing litigation in that case, as well as handling a variety of policy matters and initiatives involving intellectual property and technology issues.

"Jeff's a terrific lawyer with broad experience in government and private practice. I am delighted to have him as a Deputy," said Melamed.

Blattner fills a vacancy created as John Nannes takes over the responsibilities of Principal Deputy from Melamed, who has assumed leadership of the Antitrust Division from former Assistant Attorney General Joel I. Klein.

Blattner graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. He served as a law clerk to United States District Court Judge Robert Keeton (1980-81) and to retired U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Potter Stewart (1982-83). He worked in private practice in Washington, D.C. (1982, 1983-1987), and served as Counsel and Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee staff of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (1987-95). He has also taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School and run his own small business. He lives with his family in Bethesda, Maryland.

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