Antitrust and Trade Regulation
Antitrust and Trade Regulation Litigation
Our Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group regularly litigates complex antitrust and trade regulation cases throughout the United States and assists clients in international proceedings before such bodies as the Canadian Competition Tribunal and the European Commission. Although most of our work involves defending companies and individuals in civil and criminal actions and government investigations, we also represent plaintiffs seeking redress under the antitrust and trade regulation law. Our work includes representations in connection with:
Civil investigations brought by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission;
Private actions under Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and related State Antitrust Statutes;
Class actions and multi-district litigation;
Preliminary and permanent injunctive relief; and
Criminal antitrust investigations, including witness preparation for testimony before federal grand juries.
Antitrust and Trade Regulation Counseling
We regularly solve problems around the world in such areas as distribution and retail strategy; lawful price setting and discrimination; dealer or distributor appointment and termination, including post-acquisition integration; express and implied advertising claims; the interplay between intellectual property and competition policy; and the structuring, regulatory filings and implementation of mergers, strategic alliances and joint ventures among competitors.
To do this well, we have assembled a hands-on team that includes former business managers and in-house counsel, as well as attorneys who are highly-regarded among their peers and the business community. For example, one team member, William Holmes, writes the widely used Antitrust Law Handbook and the annually updated treatise Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law. Another, Eugene Zelek, regularly teaches pricing, marketing channels and other courses on marketing-related legal issues at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and elsewhere, as well as writing or contributing to the highly-regarded business reference books The Price Advantage, The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing and Kellogg on Marketing. A third member, David Gustman, is a member of the Advisory Board of the BNA Antitrust & Trade Regulation Report, while others actively participate in trade associations, contribute to a variety of legal and business publications and craft effective corporate compliance programs.
Perhaps one of the best compliments that this practice area receives is the fact some of the world’s best-known business consulting firms regularly ask for our assistance on marketing-related legal issues in their domestic and international client assignments.
