Jim Abell

Jim Abell currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Director in the Mergers II Division at the Federal Trade Commission, a role held since February 2012, including a period as Acting Deputy Assistant Director. Abell has significant experience litigating high-profile matters such as Altria-JUUL and Sherwin Williams-Valspar, and has led major investigations involving companies like Reynolds-Lorillard and IDT-PLX. Prior to the FTC, Abell worked as an Excellence in Government Fellow at the Partnership for Public Service and as an Associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where representation included civil price-fixing litigation and merger reviews. Abell's legal experience is complemented by a judicial clerkship with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and a clerkship with the United States Antitrust Modernization Commission. Abell holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and History from Vanderbilt University.