Antitrust
DEEP BENCH, BROAD REACH
Alston & Bird has a deep bench of antitrust talent in offices in New York, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Charlotte and Dallas. We are routinely retained to represent big companies in big cases with big stakes. Our team operates in courtrooms and boardrooms: we try civil and criminal antitrust and competition-related cases, manage all antitrust aspects of mergers and joint ventures, and counsel clients on issues ranging from pricing and distribution practices to intellectual property (IP) and antitrust compliance. Because of our successful track record, clients frequently retain us to serve as coordinating counsel in complex U.S. and foreign matters.
ANTITRUST LITIGATION: Our core strength is high-stakes antitrust litigation. Clients regularly retain us to represent them in antitrust trials, class actions, multidistrict litigation and other litigation involving complex issues, such as the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property issues.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: We also have deep experience handling the significant antitrust issues associated with mergers and acquisitions in various industries. We regularly counsel clients on the structure of, and risks associated with, proposed transactions, obtain necessary pre-merger clearances in compliance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) and successfully navigate clients through government merger investigations with no or minimal divestitures. Our antitrust lawyers also represent clients in investigations by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), state attorneys general and foreign enforcement agencies, including the European Union and the Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese Fair Trade Commissions, to name a few.
BUSINESS COUNSELING: Clients also regularly turn to us for efficient and practical antitrust counseling on a wide variety of issues, from participation in trade associations and patent pools to the intricacies of daily contract, pricing and distribution activities. We also have created dozens of industry-specific antitrust compliance policies and training programs for U.S. and foreign companies seeking to prevent antitrust problems.
Our group has been named on multiple occasions to Global Competition Review’s list of the 100 leading antitrust and competition practices in the world. Several of our antitrust lawyers have consistently been recognized by Chambers & Partners, Best Lawyers and other third-party review groups, and a number of our lawyers serve as leaders within the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law.
GREAT RESULTS
- Represent Dell and major mobile device manufacturer in prosecution of antitrust claims over price-fixing by LCD screen suppliers.
- Represented Dell in a commercial litigation matter involving claims of unfair and deceptive trade practices and alleged damages of over $5 billion in the Civil District Court for Orleans Parish, Louisiana. Jury trial resulted in maximum exposure of 0.02 percent of the total damages sought by plaintiffs.
- Representation of major mobile device manufacturer in multiple claims against parties claiming to hold IP essential to telecommunications standards, including claims for abuse of standard-setting process and failure to honor licensing obligations.
- Representation of major building materials manufacturer in two price-fixing suits in multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ultimately negotiating a small settlement that constituted a small fraction of the class plaintiffs’ claimed damages.
- Successfully represented Graphic Packaging, the largest U.S. manufacturer of paperboard and folding cartons, in a major federal merger investigation and in negotiating a consent order allowing the proposed transaction to be consummated in a timely manner and providing for divesture of only two manufacturing facilities.
- Defended AMVAC Chemical Corp. against monopolization and attempted monopolization claims related to AMVAC’s acquisition of multiple IP rights and alleged refusal to license IP to competitor. Defeated a motion for preliminary injunction and successfully obtained a TRO enjoining competitor from infringing AMVAC’s IP.
- Primary outside U.S. antitrust counsel for one of the largest chemical manufacturers in the world. Recently represented the company in an FTC Second Request investigation and secured termination of the investigation after only limited production of documents and two depositions; we also coordinated clearances from EC and Canadian Competition Bureau.
- Created practical and industry-specific antitrust compliance programs on a variety of topics, including antitrust basics and responding to “dawn raids” by government investigators, for a number of clients.
FLEXIBLE BILLING
We understand that clients want value and results, not simply hours and effort. We accordingly encourage the use of alternative fee arrangements. For our antitrust practice, we use volume discounts, discounted rates with reward factors, flat fees, flat fees for stages of litigation, capped fees, blended rates, contingency fees and combinations of all of the above.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS BY INDUSTRY
As detailed in this site, we represent leaders around the world in a wide variety of industries, including Telecommunications/Technology, Chemicals, Health Care/Pharmaceuticals, Insurance, Manufacturing, Transportation and Financial Services, in significant litigation and other highly sensitive and complex matters. Our expertise includes Litigation, Antitrust Class Actions, Government Investigations, Mergers and Acquisitions, Counseling and the Intersection of Antitrust and Intellectual Property.