In recognition of his distinguished career as a dedicated and exemplary educator, Professor John Kirkwood has been named the 2024-2026 William C. Oltman Professor of Teaching Excellence at Seattle University School of Law.
Established in honor of Oltman, an emeritus professor who joined the faculty more than 50 years ago, just after the law school was established, the award recognizes “teaching excellence, proficiency, and one’s record as a teacher, echoing Oltman’s performance as a great teacher,” Kirkwood said.
The honor is given to a different professor every two years. Members of the faculty submit nominations to the dean’s selection committee, which makes the final decision.
“I was thrilled to hear I’d gotten the award. It’s a wonderful honor. I’ve won four national awards for pathbreaking scholarship, but I haven’t won anything for teaching, so this was a wonderful compliment and a complement to the scholarship awards,” Kirkwood said. “I’ve worked very hard at teaching, so it’s very nice after all these years to get this recognition.”
As one of the nation’s leading antitrust scholars, Kirkwood has spent more than two decades at Seattle U Law teaching antitrust law, business entities, administrative law, and a seminar on law and economics.
“I’m especially motivated by the antitrust writing and speaking that I do, but I’ve always understood that a number of students valued my teaching,” Kirkwood said. “I enjoy it and think I’m making a contribution.”
He explained that antitrust issues have only become more significant since he first entered the field in the 1970s. Due to the technology boom and a reduction in antitrust regulation by the federal government, a small number of corporations now control entire industries.
“In 2005, there were seven major airlines in the U.S.,” he said. “Now, there are just four — Delta, American, United, and Southwest. There are also just four major grocery retailers — Wal-Mart, Kroger, Costco, and Amazon.”
The result of this trend is that prices of certain goods and services are artificially high, as large companies face little pressure to charge less when there are few if any competitors.
“It’s an issue that affects consumers and workers,” Kirkwood said.
The U.S. Supreme Court and the Washington Supreme Court have quoted Kirkwood’s antitrust work, and four of his articles have won national awards for pathbreaking antitrust scholarship. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and at the hearings on predatory pricing held by the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice. He has been published in the Florida Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, the Boston University Law Review, and many other journals and books, and he has been interviewed by numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg, and USA Today.
After graduating magna cum laude from Yale University with Honors of Exceptional Distinction in Economics, Kirkwood received a master's degree in public policy and a law degree from Harvard, both with honors. He set up the FTC’s first antitrust policy planning office and later managed the Evaluation Office and the Premerger Notification Program. After transferring to the FTC's Northwest Regional Office in Seattle, he led cases and investigations.
He is the immediate past chair of the Antitrust and Economic Regulation Section of the Association of American Law Schools and an advisor to the American Antitrust Institute and the Institute of Consumer Antitrust Studies. He was co-editor of Research in Law and Economics for eight years. At Seattle U Law, he has received the Outstanding Faculty Award and the Dean's Medal.
The outgoing Oltman Professor of Teaching Excellence is Professor Andrew Siegel.