Intel Corp. on Friday announced it had appointed Douglas Melamed to serve as senior vice president and general counsel. Mr. Melamed is a well-known antitrust and corporate government relations specialist, which means that the appointment represents Intel’s preparations for antitrust trials in the U.S. and other countries.

In this role Douglas Melamed he will be responsible for overseeing all Intel legal matters as well as corporate and government affairs. He will report to Intel president and chief executive officer Paul Otellini, and maintain offices at Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, California as well as Washington, D.C.

“We are extremely pleased to have Doug join the Intel team. His breadth of experience and legal expertise combined with his background in government are an outstanding fit for us,” said Paul Otellini.

Intel is facing numerous antitrust trials in the U.S. Most recently the company was accused of providing illegal funding to leading makers of PCs in exchange for exclusive use of Intel processors in business desktops and servers. As a result, Intel badly needs a specialist in antitrust lawsuits.

Douglas Melamed, 63, was most recently a partner at WilmerHale, a global law firm where he was a leader in its Regulatory and Government Affairs Department and served as a member of the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group in the Washington, DC office. He joined the firm in 1971.

With more than 30 years experience, Mr. Melamed has an extensive background in all aspects of antitrust practice. He has secured clearance for major acquisitions in the merger clearance process, argued cases in the United States Supreme Court and other appellate courts, litigated in federal and state trial courts and before the Federal Trade Commission, and has counseled numerous firms on a wide range of antitrust matters.

The new general counsel of Intel served in the U.S. Department of Justice from October 1996 to January 2001 as acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Antitrust Division and as principal deputy assistant attorney general. While principal deputy, he was responsible for civil non-merger and merger investigations and litigation involving most of the division's litigating sections; the division's appellate matters; policy matters involving, among others, the communications, electricity and tobacco industries; and international antitrust enforcement matters.

Mr. Melamed has been an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and has authored numerous articles on antitrust in addition to law and economics. He is a contributing editor of the Antitrust Law Journal and a member of the Board of Academic Advisors of the Journal of Law, Economics and Policy at George Mason University. He is also a member of the American Law Institute and the Yale University Council, and a past member of Sidwell Friends School's board of trustees.

Tags: Intel, Business