About David J. Gonen

With extensive antitrust experience, including 12 years at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), David Gonen helps companies navigate complex transactions, business practices, and commercial disputes.

A strategic advocate

David represents companies in antitrust investigations by federal and state authorities and in private antitrust litigation. He also counsels clients on antitrust issues ranging from pricing to exclusive dealing to competitor collaborations. He has deep experience within pharmaceuticals and life sciences, and his matters have spanned a wide variety of other industries including digital platforms, aerospace/defense, data center solutions, medical devices, prescription eyewear, veterinary services, and more.

As a lead attorney in the FTC's Mergers I Division, David built cutting-edge legal cases against monopolist acquisitions of nascent competitors. In one case, the FTC challenged a pharmaceutical company's consummated acquisition of a pipeline Infantile Spasms drug under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, resulting in a settlement requiring a sublicense and $100 million in disgorgement — the largest equitable monetary relief ever secured by the government in a merger case. In another case, the agency sued to block a DNA sequencing platform provider's acquisition of a highly differentiated rival platform, prompting the parties to abandon the transaction. David also shaped the legal framing of the FTC's challenge to a pharmaceutical company's proposed acquisition of a preclinical-phase treatment for Pompe disease, which the parties then abandoned.

David played a pivotal role in the FTC's Illumina/Grail administrative trial and appeal, in which the agency challenged a DNA sequencing platform provider's acquisition of a cancer screening test developer. The case culminated in a landmark Fifth Circuit ruling marking the government's first successful vertical merger challenge in decades.

David handled all aspects of investigations through every step of the FTC's merger review process and played important roles in administrative and federal court trials. Additionally, he made significant contributions to the 2023 Merger Guidelines. Among other awards, David received the prestigious Paul Rand Dixon Award in 2019 for his exceptional contributions to the FTC's merger enforcement program.

Prior to the FTC, David handled a broad range of antitrust and intellectual property litigation and counseling matters as an associate at Katten. He received Katten's Pro Bono Service Award for his work on a successful federal civil rights jury trial.

In law school, David was an executive articles editor for the Chicago-Kent Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Honor Society. He graduated with High Honors.

Prior to law school, David was a Senior Research Technologist in the Laboratory of Developmental Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, where he conducted molecular genetics research and was a coauthor on numerous published papers.

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Practice Focus

  • Antitrust and competition
  • Government merger investigations and litigation
  • Private antitrust litigation
  • Antitrust counseling

News

Publications

Practices
Industries
Education
  • Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, JD
  • The University of Iowa, BA
Bar Admissions
  • District of Columbia
Court Admissions
  • US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
  • US District Court, District of Columbia