Mr. Slater began his legal career as an academic, teaching at University of California School of Law at Berkeley (Boalt Hall). In 1972, he moved to Northwestern University School of Law, where he was a professor of antitrust law. Mr. Slater’s academic writings have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court on several occasions. Hospital Bldg. Co. v. Trustees of Rex Hospital, 425 U.S. 738, 743 (1976); Cantor v. Detroit Edison Co., 428 U.S. 579, 632 (1976), City of Lafayette v. Louisiana Power & Light Co., 435 U.S. 389 (1978).

In 1976, Mr. Slater resigned from his faculty position at Northwestern to form the law firm of Sperling & Slater. Mr. Slater retained his affiliation with Northwestern, however, and taught the advanced antitrust courses as an adjunct professor. In the early 1990s, Mr. Slater was one of a small number of antitrust counsel who pioneered the practice of representing Fortune 500 and other publicly traded companies as individual plaintiffs in industry-wide multidistrict litigation. This practice allows Mr. Slater’s clients the ability to pursue their own claims and design their own relief – both monetary and injunctive – outside of class action proceedings which often do not meet the client’s needs. In this capacity Mr. Slater has represented national drug store and grocery store chains, domestic and international airlines, national restaurant chains, the leading air freight service provider, national car rental companies, and major shopping, internet and media marketing companies.

Education

• Northwestern University School of Law (J.D. 1970)
  • magna cum laude
  • Order of the Coif
  • Editorial Board, Northwestern University Law Review
  • Class Valedictorian
• Columbia University (B.A. with Honors in Economics 1967)

Admissions

• Illinois (1970)

Awards and Recognitions

• Honoree for the Antitrust Enforcement Award for Outstanding Antitrust Achievement in Private Law Practice (American Antitrust Institute, 2022)

Memberships and Professional Affiliations

• Chicago Bar Association (Antitrust & Patent Committees)
• Illinois State Bar Association (Antitrust Council)
• American Antitrust Institute (Advisory Board)
• Loyola Antitrust Institute (Advisory Board)
• University of California School of Law (Boalt Hall) (Faculty), 1970-1971
• University of Connecticut Law School (Assistant Professor), 1971-1972
• Northwestern University School of Law (Professor and Adjunct Professor), 1972-2007