Our Trade & Antitrust Regulation lawyers take pride in having expansive knowledge and extensive experience handling the full range of antitrust challenges facing businesses in today’s highly competitive and changing landscape.
We regularly represent clients in criminal antitrust matters (investigations and trials), class-action antitrust lawsuits, actions brought by customers and suppliers, actions by or against competitors, and monopolization cases. We have significant experience litigating the full range of antitrust claims, including price fixing, bid-rigging, vertical restraints, and price discrimination, on both the plaintiff and defense sides.
Our lawyers advise on the competitive and antitrust regulation impact of proposed corporate transactions. We help clients engaged in mergers and acquisitions with analysis of the potential competitive impacts of the proposed transactions, and we assist them in navigating obstacles presented by competition agencies when transactions are challenged. The lawyers in our practice have industry-leading experience in the often difficult analysis required for preparing and filing Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act) notifications with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, and the team counsels on the application of the HSR Act and compliance with its provisions.
While we are capable of litigating and trying even the most complex antitrust cases, we recognize that our role is to serve our clients’ business strategies and goals and that settlement can be — and often is — the best option. Working with each client at the outset of a matter, we help the client assess the likely value of the matter and, based on that calculation, determine the best strategy to effectively and efficiently resolve the matter. Some matters are “bet the company” situations and justify large expenditures of time and money, and some are not; it is always in our clients’ best interest to make that determination up front and proceed accordingly.
Our Trade Regulation lawyers immerse themselves in our clients’ businesses and industries to better understand clients’ goals, operations, market positions, and competition, and to better tailor clients’ business strategies and conduct to comply with antitrust laws. We regularly counsel clients concerning the antitrust implications of a wide range of business practices, such as distribution policies and programs, pricing policies, trade associations, information exchanges, and issues that regularly impact companies with large market shares.
We also work closely with our clients’ compliance officers to ensure that their companies adhere to the law while at the same time avoiding excessive measures that could prevent them from using legitimate instruments of competition. We have designed and executed corporate antitrust compliance programs, including awareness presentations, antitrust trainings, and full antitrust audits for corporations and organizations from different industries, including consumer products, energy, electricity, gas, electronic appliances, chemicals, and health care.
