The Justice Department has tapped Philip Beck, a Chicago trial lawyer, to be its new field general in the government’s antitrust battle with Microsoft. The move is a sign that the Bush administration is girding itself to take up the more-than-three-year-old legal fight against the software giant in a new courtroom round.

Separately, Microsoft told a federal appeals court that it might ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a June 28 ruling.