Overview
Antitrust and Competition law can touch every aspect of a firm’s business. It goes far beyond traditional concerns about price fixing and mergers and acquisitions. Today, antitrust and competition law affects product distribution practices, procurement, employee recruitment and compensation, restrictive covenants, intellectual property licensing and many other aspects of a firm’s operations.
Antitrust threats and opportunities
An antitrust attack is often a major life event for a business. Government antitrust investigations (from federal, state and foreign enforcement agencies) can disrupt a firm’s operations and sideline its key executives. Civil and criminal charges can frequently have severe consequences for the firm and its participating executives; and private damage claims can reach into the billions of dollars. Antitrust and competition issues can thus present concerns that go to the heart of the business enterprise.
There is, however, a flip side. Just as antitrust and competition law can be a threat, it also provides opportunities. Sophisticated, well-counseled firms use antitrust offensively to protect their markets, open access to new ones and ensure that they are free to compete on a level playing field. Katten’s Antitrust and Competition attorneys are adept at helping their clients avoid the legal risks and seize the opportunities presented by antitrust and competition laws.
Counseling: Navigating a shifting landscape
As regulatory priorities and business models continue to evolve, antitrust issues can arise from many directions. We understand how regulators look at competition issues — and how to keep client activities in the clear. Our team has the experience to counsel you in all antitrust-related areas, including:
- Relationships with competitors
- Pricing and price discrimination
- Product distribution
- Procurement
- HR — antitrust issues
- Tying
- Monopolization
- Group boycotts
- Mergers and acquisitions clearance
- Intellectual property licensing
- Government and private, civil and criminal investigations and litigation.
M&A: A proactive approach to business combinations
Perhaps no area presents a greater challenge to strategic mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other business combinations than antitrust and competition law. Katten positions domestic and cross-border deals for quick merger control clearance. Where deals raise serious competition concerns, Katten goes in with a client-tested game plan to minimize the length of the investigation and limit any relief that is required for clearance. We have obtained antitrust merger clearances for hundreds of transactions, both under the Hart-Scott Rodino Act and foreign merger control regimes.
When authorities do investigate, we defend your deals before the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general. When overseas jurisdictions are involved, we work with a trusted network of foreign competition attorneys who are available immediately to represent around the world.
Litigation and investigations
Katten’s Antitrust and Competition attorneys have decades of experience in handling major antitrust litigations and investigations that have both domestic and international ramifications. We have defended billion dollar antitrust class actions, and represented leading market players attacked by rivals. We have also represented antitrust plaintiffs. Our antitrust and competition attorneys also have extensive experience in representing subjects and targets in domestic and international antitrust investigations.
Industry knowledge reduces risk
Katten’s industry experience yields commercial and practical insights that help keep your business on the right side of antitrust laws and ensure that you take full advantage of the protections those laws offer. We dig deep to learn how your business works, so that we can we can evaluate issues in a real-world context and provide solutions that are intensely practical and make business sense. We have significant experience in more than 60 industries, including health care, financial services, technology, consumer products, manufacturing industries, energy, entertainment, insurance, military and consumer electronics, media, paper and transportation services.
Experience
Insights
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News | September 13, 2024
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News | August 13, 2024
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Event | June 4–5, 2024
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Publication | April 25, 2024
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News | March 25, 2024