Priceless: The Case That Brought Down the Visa/MasterCard Bank Cartel

Book is a quick read that provides insights into the evolution of the payments industry. Lawyers will also appreciate the behind the scenes look at the preparation required for a mega-antitrust case.

Priceless is an effort to stop certain business practices and alter the anti-competitive structure of an industry using US Antitrust laws as the instrument of change.Told in the first person, Lloyd takes us into the inner workings of the case that brought down the Visa/Mastercard bank cartel. Lead counsel on the case, he shares with us how he won, saving merchants and consumers over 87 billion dollars.If you love legal dramas, you will probably enjoy Priceless. Sometimes all the technical wording became too much for me, but they are relevant to the story. Wal-Mart, The Limited, and Circuit City are just a few of the five million stores listed in the case. Mr. Constantine's political involvement prevented him from sharing his story until now.

A great read into one of the seminal attacks on the hegemony of Visa, MasterCard and their member banks. Details of the obfuscation, outright deceit, delay tactics and business model legal-engineering of these famous card brands is astounding. C&P established the benchmark precedent for all antitrust actions surrounding the card brands today (C&P did not "kill the beast" only weakened it), making this book a "must read" for anyone in card payments policy and antitrust law.Anyone who still harbors a shred of sympathy for these brands needs to focus on the evidence surrounding public deception to kill more efficient PIN debit (still happening today), conspiracy to restrict access from potential competitors and general distain of antitrust laws needs to read this book.On the down side, Lloyd's views on the how politics played in the growth of Visa and MasterCard are a bit flawed. While he contends Regan/Bush/Bush lax approach to antitrust lead to the growth of the monopoly, he fails to point out that most of the market power growth and restrictive practices occured during the Clinton administration. Sadly, this highlights the fact that NO administration - including Obama, to date - has been willing to take on the banking lobby beyond "show trials".

As a law student, I enjoyed Mr. Constantine's first hand account, of the events surrounding these landmark cases. Admittedly, this was probably the first time I've ever found antitrust cases interesting, so this book greatly exceed my expectations. Two thumbs up!

Rare is the attorney who writes a good book about his success in his own civil trial. Daniel Petrocelli achieved it in "Triumph of Justice," in his civil damages trial of the infamous OJ Simpson case. Strong editing tones down the subjective in autobiographies or trial memoirs forcing the preening attorney - all trial attorneys preen - to be objective. Editing is minimal in this book. With an ego "as big as the Ritz," to borrow from Scott Fitzgerald, Lloyd Constantine does not defy the odds; this book reads more like a legal brief than a good yarn. Bloated with too much legal procedure, and nasty snipes at other lawyers and judges, the overwhelming subjectivity and the lack of story telling ability makes for a plodding read. Focusing on one narrow slice of the credit and debit card industry, he misses the chance to explain this business central to modern day America. He is ungracious to his adversaries characterizing them as venal, ignoring for the most part the names and legal arguments of opposing counsel and, most inexplicably, insulting to federal judges. One appellate female judge who sits on a panel is fingered by Constantine as trying to date him in the past, another appellate judge is painted as a right wing ideologue and then the trial judge who just awarded millions in fees is accused of rank sophistry. The book only becomes interesting in the author's analysis of the lode star considerations upon which his fee should have been awarded. In sum, a limited effort drenched in gracelessness.

This book's primary flaw is that the author---the lead trial counsel for the plaintiffs' class of retail merchants in the litigation at the center of the narrative---has a surprisingly poor vantage from which to tell this story. Position determines perspective, and Mr. Constantine's position deprives him of any real insights into his adversaries' viewpoints or motivations. Thus, half the actors in the narrative are portrayed as two-dimensional abstractions, which does not make for a compelling story (at least not for adult readers).Numerous reviews have thoroughly addressed the other major flaw of this book (Mr. Constantine's healthy self-regard), so I will not belabor that point further. Frankly, this is probably an exceedingly common problem with biographic prose, and I assume that it's usually caught by more engaged editors. Mr. Constantine's mind-voice is likely no different than many of our own (solipsism comes with any success, if not with being carbon-based life), but it's not an effective lens through which to tell a complex story set in a world populated by other real people.While I didn't mind the book's discussion of the detailed procedural nuances of high-stakes, multiparty, civil litigation, lay readers could certainly find such details confusing, difficult to penetrate, and a disruption to the story.