James Speta
Director of Executive LLM Programs
Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law
Department: School of Law
Colleges / Universities: Northwestern University
Contact
375 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
Email: j-speta@law.northwestern.edu
Website: Northwestern faculty page
Jim Speta has been a member of the faculty of Northwestern University Law since1999. His research interests include telecommunications and Internet policy, antitrust, administrative law, and market organization. He teaches in the Law School and in the Joint Program in Law and Business operated by the Law School and the Kellogg School. A 1991 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Speta joined the Northwestern faculty following a one-year visit. He had previously clerked for Judge Harry T. Edwards on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and practiced appellate, telecommunications, and antitrust law with the Chicago firm of Sidley & Austin.
Degrees
J.D. University of Michigan, 1991
B.A. University of Michigan, 1988
Recent Academic Article Summaries
Antitrust and Regulation in the EU and US
This book contains seven articles discussing the move from anticompetitive regulation to antitrust law in the US and EU.
The trend towards consolidating industries formally governed by sector-specific regulation under standard antitrust laws may be justified in some sectors, but international differences remain.
Shaky Foundations of the Regulated Internet, The
The FCC’s Comcast order was overly broad, so the author advocates more limited FCC jurisdiction over the Internet.
FCC jurisdiction over Internet transmission services is not founded in the Communications Act, thus in the Comcast order the reasoning relied on gave the FCC practically unrestricted authority over Internet services. This broad authority ought to be replaced with a limited jurisdiction scheme.
Spectrum Policy Experiments: What’s Next?
The author acknowledges past experiments in spectrum licensing but calls for more experimentation to encourage reform.
While there has been experimentation in electromagnetic spectrum licensing, the continuum used for electronic communications, most scholars have been calling for wholesale reform to increase innovation. Unfortunately, the momentum for reform has waned, but new experiments may revive the momentum.
Quotes in the News
Speta, J. (2018, March 3). Business Insider.“As a matter of policy, it's a bad idea to have the internet governed by lots of little state regulations.”
James Speta
Director of Executive LLM Programs
Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law
School of Law
Northwestern University
Speta, J. (2017, January 30). Scientific American.“I’m hopeful that the FCC won’t be defanged entirely, and that even without the Open Internet Order the agency will still act against anticompetitive behavior among the large internet companies.”
James Speta
Director of Executive LLM Programs
Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law
School of Law
Northwestern University
Speta, J. (2015, February 5). Wall Street Journal.“It is virtually inevitable that some or many of the carriers will challenge the rules.”
James Speta
Director of Executive LLM Programs
Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law
School of Law
Northwestern University
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