Deona Kalala

• Providing counsel to clients on transaction planning and managing and advising clients on the due diligence process and antitrust implications of transactions and investments.
• Represented pro bono clients before the Social Security Administration, including drafting appeal pleadings, conducting discovery, and preparing affidavits.
• Led the response to a second request issued by the FTC in 41 days for a $4 billion transaction.
• Assisted dozens of companies navigating the Hart–Scott–Rodino pre-merger clearance process.

Deona Kalala focuses on complex commercial litigation, including high-stakes antitrust, consumer protection, and data privacy matters. Deona also advises clients on antitrust and unfair competition law in the context of mergers and acquisitions and related compliance counseling. She assists companies navigating the Hart–Scott–Rodino (HSR) merger clearance process and conducts due diligence on the antitrust implications of transactions and investments.

Deona is active with the American Bar Association. She serves as a member of the governing council of the Antitrust Law Section. Deona is also an adjunct professor at the Washington University School of Law and teaches a course on the HSR Merger Clearance process. She has been selected to Super Lawyer’s Washington D.C. Rising Stars list multiple times.

While Deona was an associate at another large law firm’s litigation practice, she represented transit agencies, financial institutions, manufacturers, agricultural cooperatives, and a variety of private business owners in civil litigation, including cases involving antitrust claims, contract disputes, class actions, breach of fiduciary duty, and commercial loan disputes.

Deona received her J.D. from Washington University School of Law, where she participated in a legal practice externship with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and served as a law clerk in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She earned her B.S. in industrial engineering and M.S. in economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• Georgia
• Virginia

Education

• Washington University in St. Louis (J.D., 2013)
• Georgia Institute of Technology (M.S., 2007)
• Georgia Institute of Technology (B.S., 2006)

Memberships