Client Services / Antitrust & Competition

Antitrust & Competition

McDermott Will & Emery’s Antitrust & Competition Practice Group has broad experience in all aspects of antitrust and competition law. The Group has a sophisticated practice in U.S. antitrust law (Federal and State), EC competition law and the competition laws of other countries throughout the world. More than 60 firm lawyers focus their practices on antitrust and competition law; approximately 10 of these lawyers concentrate on international competition law. The Antitrust and Competition Practice Group includes partners who have held senior positions in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and State Attorney General’s Offices for Antitrust. Our lawyers regularly represent clients before the FTC, DOJ, DG Competition and the U.S. Federal Courts. The Group is centered in Washington, D.C., and has lawyers with significant antitrust and competition experience in its Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Düsseldorf, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Rome and New York offices.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
The Antitrust and Competition Practice Group has extensive experience in all facets of the merger review process and has worked on numerous large transactions. Our attorneys have represented participants on all sides of merger transactions, ranging from small assets purchases to billion dollar public tender offers and risk arbitrage departments of major investment banking firms. We have analyzed the antitrust implications of most of the significant merger and acquisition transactions since 1978, representing in excess of 1,300 transactions, and use this knowledge to provide a preliminary analysis of proposed transactions and to evaluate antitrust risks involved in the transactions. The Group also provides advice on the Hart-Scott-Rodino notification requirements in even the most complicated transactions, typically filing over 125 Hart-Scott-Rodino notifications each year.

Additionally, the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group is experienced in defending transactions before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). Our lawyers have experience in all aspects of representation before the FTC and DOJ from the initial waiting period through to complying with agency requests for additional information (a so called "Second Request"), up to defending a transaction in court where necessary. In addition to defensive work, the Group also has substantial expertise in representing third parties that wish to oppose transactions before the FTC, DOJ or the Federal Courts.

DISTRIBUTOR - DEALER RELATIONSHIPS COUNSELING
The Antitrust and Competition Practice Group also regularly counsels manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and companies at all levels of the distribution chain concerning their commercial, transactional, regulatory and litigation needs. We have assisted clients in devising and modifying distribution systems; implementing cost-effective distributorship termination efforts; evaluating distribution systems in merger contexts; and pursuing and/or defending all aspects of distributor-dealer litigation. For clients engaged in e-commerce, our attorneys have wide experience in advising and developing agreements reflecting the distribution relationships between various parties to e-commerce transactions, including B2B enterprises. The Distributor-Dealer Relationships Group also provides distributor relations advice and litigation services in specialized areas such as the beverage alcohol industry.

Counseling
The Antitrust and Competition Practice Group regularly counsels its clients on the full range of antitrust issues including mergers, joint ventures (structural or contractual), distribution arrangements, pricing policies, dealer/distributor terminations, risk arbitrage, trade associations and standards setting. The Antitrust Practice Group also works closely with the firm’s intellectual property attorneys to provide counseling on the antitrust issues related to technology licensing agreements, patent pools and B2B exchanges.

Litigation
Representing both plaintiffs and defendants, the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group has substantial experience in a wide variety of antitrust litigation including actions involving claims monopolization, tying, dealer terminations, antitrust counterclaims in patent and trademark litigation, price fixing and litigated challenges to mergers and acquisitions.

Government Investigations
The Antitrust Practice Group also represents its clients in all types of FTC and DOJ investigations including defending grand jury investigations, defending price fixing investigations and investigations on monopolization and unfair competition. From an offensive standpoint, the Group also has extensive experience in assisting parties seeking government investigations of anti-competitive conduct on merger or acquisitions on behalf of customers or competitors that would be harmed by such conduct or transaction.

International Competition Law Practice
The Antitrust and Competition Practice Group has extensive experience in assisting its clients in complying with the competition laws of the European Union, as well as other countries around the world. The Group provides its clients with services that include antitrust and competition counseling, analysis and representation in the merger notification and review process, and advising on government investigations conducted by countries with actively enforced competition laws. Our lawyers have experience in dealing with various aspects of the competition laws in the European Union and its member countries, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Korea Mexico and many other countries.

Counseling
The Antitrust and Competition Practice Group provides its clients with a full range of counseling on competition law issues in the areas of mergers, joint ventures, distribution issues and licensing. Group attorneys regularly counsel clients on the various laws applicable to contractual and structural joint ventures, guiding clients through maze of divergent distribution regulations, advising clients on competitive issues in technology and intellectual property licensing and patent pool arrangements, and leading clients through the notification processes for approval of such arrangements.

Mergers Notification And Review
The Antitrust and Competition Practice Group has extensive experience with multinational mergers and the notification process for such mergers. The Group analyzes proposed multinational transactions and advises clients on the likely substantive treatment of mergers in various jurisdictions worldwide, organizes and executes the notification process throughout the world for large multinational transactions, and defends transactions that receive additional scrutiny in various jurisdictions. The Group has undertaken merger notification/review as lead counsel in over 25 jurisdictions for US and European clients. Similarly, the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group has represented clients before international competition authorities to oppose adverse mergers in order to protect supply arrangements and pricing for customers and to ensure continued market access for competitors.

The Antitrust and Competition Practice is part of McDermott’s Regulation & Government Affairs Department. Our practice integrates attorneys experienced in various industries and practice areas, including attorneys acting as general counsel and antitrust counsel to numerous trade and professional associations. The Firm, therefore, makes available to clients attorneys who are experienced in virtually every area of antitrust and trade regulation practice. Our attorneys also are generally familiar with the industry segments in which clients conduct their business, at the manufacturing, wholesaling or retailing levels. Firmwide telecommunications and access to applicable precedents facilitates cost-effective and timely delivery of quality services.

Contacts

Antitrust & Competition Client Services

McDermott Will & Emery

McDermott Will and Emery