Trade Associations: Are They Too Timid?

• Author: Basil J. Mezines
• Published date: 01 December 1974
• Date: 01 December 1974
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0003603X7401900407
• Subject Matter: Article

TRADE

ASSOCIATIONS:

ARE

THEY TOO TIMID?

by

BASIL

J.

MEZINES·

It

is a pleasure

and

an honor

for

me to have this op-

portunity

to address the 10th Annual Symposium on

Trade

Association Law

and

Practice sponsored by the

Antitrust

Law

Committee of the

Bar

Association of the District of

Columbia.

I know

that

I am among many friends on this occasion,

many of whom I have worked with

at

the

Federal

Trade

Com-

mission and many who appeared from the outside in

matters

involving the Commission.

I

must

admit to feeling some uneasiness in addressing you

for

the first time

from

the

"private

bar"

side of the table,

but

I

must

also admit to a feeling of

great

delight in being

able to work with so many association executives

that

Ihave

known throughout the years. Imust admit also,

that

in my

short

time in

private

practice Ihave

started

an enlighten-

ment process and see things somewhat differently

than

I did

while I was

at

the

Federal

Trade

Commission. I, of course,

do not want to make the change too fast,

but

have

felt

for

some time

that

trade

associations

are

too timid in

their

ap-

proach to problems

and

government regulations.

At

trade

association meetings

that

Ihave attended, gov-

ernment officials, as well as representatives from the associa-

tions, have warned

that

it

is illegal in the unregulated sector

of

our

economy to fix prices, divide up markets,

and

engage

in

other

kinds of anticompetitive activities which make the

...

Stein, Mitchell &Mezines, Washington, D. C.

AUTHOR'S

NOTE:

The author is indebted to James G.

Hunter,

Esq.,

Kirkland &Ellis, Chicago,

for

providing many of the situations re-

ferred

to in this paper.

753