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An antitrust expert will soon head the legal department at embattled Intel Corporation. On Thursday the semiconductor maker announced that it's paying rival Advanced Micro Devices $1.25 billion to settle antitrust and patent disputes. And the day before, it hired WilmerHale partner and antirust specialist Douglas Melamed as its new general counsel. The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog reported Thursday that Intel's board selected Melamed Wednesday night.

The position has been vacant since September, when Intel's longtime general counsel Bruce Sewell left to become the top lawyer for Apple Inc. Deputy general counsel Suzan Miller had been filling in on an interim basis. Calls to officials at Intel and to Melamed were not immediately returned.

Melamed will arrive at Santa Clara, California-based Intel with years of experience handling antitrust matters. At WilmerHale, he counseled several companies, including Intel, on antitrust matters and investigations. He has also investigated antitrust matters for the government.

Before joining Wilmer, he was an assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice and headed the antitrust division from October 1996 to January 2001. And before that, he was principal deputy assistant attorney general responsible for international antitrust enforcement matters.

That expertise will be put to good use at Intel, which is facing a range of antitrust complaints by regulators in Europe, Asia, and the United States. They have accused the company of using large rebates and marketing agreements to convince computer makers to use its products instead of those by rival chipmakers.

The European Union has levied a record $1.45 billion fine against the semiconductor maker for antitrust violations. Last week, the New York attorney general also filed an antitrust suit against the company. While at WilmerHale, Melamed represented Intel in a pending investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and in related proceedings.

Also See: Intel Pays AMD $1.25 Billion to Settle Legal Disputes (from The New York Times)

Also See: Facebook Sends Ted Ullyot a Friend Request (from The Wall Street Journal)

Intel is just one of three companies in the San Francisco Bay area to hire lawyers from Washington, D.C., as their new general counsel in recent months. In September 2008, Palo Alto-based Facebook hired Ted Ullyot, a Washington, D.C.-based partner at Kirkland & Ellis. Ullyot had also been the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

In July San Ramon, California-based Chevron Corporation hired R. Hewitt Pate, a partner at Hunton & Williams in Washington, D.C. who headed the firm's global competition practice. Before then, Pate had served as the assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division from 2003 to 2005. He also served for two years as division's chief deputy.

Also See: R. Hewitt Pate Named Vice President and General Counsel for Chevron (from Chevron.com)

Also See: Hunton & Williams Practice Leader Chosen as Chevron GC (from The National Law Journal)

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