On March 27, the Department of Justice dedicated the Anne K. Bingaman Auditorium and Lecture Hall in Liberty Square Building in Washington, D.C. Bingaman, nominated by President Clinton, was the first female head of the Antitrust Division, serving from 1993 to 1996.

During her tenure, Bingaman approved the dramatic expansion of the leniency program, which led to increased prosecution of cartels and the imposition of record-breaking fines; encouraged cooperative enforcement with other federal agencies, state attorneys general and international antitrust enforcement entities; and founded the paralegal unit, which greatly enhanced the division’s efficiency. Significant cases include the 1994 Microsoft settlement (the division’s first joint prosecution with a foreign antitrust authority); the NASDAQ settlement (cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission in securing a consent decree with 24 major NASDAQ securities firms, preventing them from fixing transaction costs for individual investors); and the breakup of cartels in international food and feed additives, thermal fax paper, and plastic ware.

Earlier in her career, Bingaman broke several gender barriers in the legal profession. She was the first woman to be hired by a major law firm in New Mexico and the first female professor with tenure at the University of New Mexico School of Law.