Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP serves an antitrust world without borders with a well-integrated team of competition lawyers in the United States and Europe and with contacts throughout Asia, Latin America and Africa.
The leadership and excellence of our Antitrust Practice Group has been recognized by Chambers, The Legal 500, GCR and Global Counsel for years. “It is a superb team” and a “greatly respected practice,” clients have reported. Clients have praised the team for being “pragmatic but thorough” and cutting “through the noise efficiently,” as well as being “accessible, measured, calm under pressure and highly technically proficient.” It is a team that is “hard-working and genuinely committed to winning.” Clients also have described Willkie attorneys as very “responsive,” “strategic,” “experienced,” and “good at negotiating complicated situations,” as well as having “a detailed understanding of the ins and outs of the field.”
The group has “impressed clients with its depth of antitrust litigation experience” and is “well integrated” across offices and jurisdictions. Our experienced teams across Europe in Brussels, Paris, London and Frankfurt, and across the U.S. in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have established a highly reputable, market-leading practice representing clients in litigation and advising on large-scale mergers and cartel investigations.
Our antitrust team assists clients in expanding their businesses while minimizing legal risks. We have represented a global client base in national and international merger filings, U.S. and European investigations of all forms of anticompetitive activity, class action and private litigation, and business ventures in multiple jurisdictions. We have acted in a host of sectors, including financial services and consulting, business and financial information, media, e-commerce, consumer goods, hedge funds and private equity, pharmaceuticals, apparel, air and maritime transport, energy, telecommunication, industrial and chemical manufacturing, and satellite communications.
Areas of Antitrust Experience
Mergers
Willkie’s merger experience spans a wide range of industries and every stage of the merger-review process. Whether navigating merger clearances in multiple jurisdictions, negotiating remedies, assessing the risk of antitrust enforcement, negotiating risk-sharing provisions, or representing third parties, businesses have relied on Willkie to achieve their objectives.
Litigation
Willkie has litigated in the United States, in Europe, and Canada, in class action and private litigation, or contentious regulatory proceedings, and across a broad spectrum of industries.
Cartels, Joint Conduct, and Other Investigations
Cartel investigations are increasingly conducted by regulators across the globe. Willkie provides multi-jurisdictional representation and has handled all aspects of cartel enforcement.
Our experience includes defending legitimate joint conduct and assisting clients with “dawn raids” and difficult amnesty or leniency decisions.
Monopolization/Unilateral Conduct
Companies with significant market positions often attract antitrust scrutiny that raises complex issues. Willkie has litigated monopolization claims, advocated on behalf of companies excluded by unlawful practices, and counseled clients with industry-leading positions to minimize antitrust risk while achieving business objectives.
Pricing and Distribution
Pricing and distribution are at the center of antitrust analysis and can raise novel issues. Willkie helps clients navigate the antitrust implications of their business arrangements.
Benchmarking
Exchanging information across an industry can be an effective tool for business planning. Willkie can help clients develop frameworks through which companies can share information effectively within the parameters of antitrust law.
Compliance & Training
Willkie’s antitrust team remains ready to help clients assess their businesses and adapt to constant changes in the regulatory environment and commercial landscape. We work closely with clients to formulate compliance and training programs that advance their business models.
State Aids
In Europe, a significant part of the team’s activities relates to state aids for which it enjoys a first-class reputation: it has advised on several undertakings in both administrative and contentious proceedings in the fields of energy, media, and retail banking before both the European Commission and Community courts.
Related Practice Areas
Experience
Bloomberg
We represent Bloomberg in litigations, regulatory investigations, and acquisitions in both the United States and in Europe.
Air France KLM/Air France
We represented Air France KLM on its €4 billion French State measures to recapitalize Air France and its holding company.
EDF
We represent EDF in major litigation cases and acquisitions in Europe.
Marsh & McLennan
We represent March & McLennan in dozens of cases brought by both private plaintiffs and state attorneys general alleging violations of the antitrust laws in federal and state courts across the country.
FIS
Representation relates to mergers and acquisitions involving financial services software, related technology, and consulting.
Crédit Mutuel-CIC
We represent Crédit Mutuel-CIC in a series of high-profile interchange fees cases before the European Commission and the French Antitrust Authority.
Insurance Companies
We represent numerous major insurance companies on a range of issues including benchmarking, joint ventures, and the application of the McCarran-Ferguson Act.
Silver Lake
We represent Silver Lake Technology Management in defense of a putative class action brought by shareholder plaintiffs who claim that various private equity firms conspired to constrain the share price of public companies purchased through a leveraged buy-out.
Warburg Pincus
We represent Warburg Pincus in numerous matters relating to antitrust litigation, counseling, and compliance.
Managed Funds Association
Representation regarding Hart-Scott-Rodino and other antitrust matters.
Numerous Hedge Funds
We provide acquisition advice to numerous hedge funds and investors that follow strategic acquisitions throughout the world.
Arkema
We represent Arkema in antitrust matters in several jurisdictions throughout the world.
Mueller
We represent Mueller in acquisitions, litigations, and investigations in multiple jurisdictions.
Norma Group
We represent Norma Group in acquisitions and related matters.
Major Internet Platform
We represent a major internet platform in an ongoing, cross-border antitrust investigation.
The Men's Wearhouse
We represent The Men's Wearhouse in acquisition issues.
Rexel
We represent Rexel in acquisitions and antitrust issues across Europe.
Hospira
We provide antitrust counseling in numerous antitrust pharmaceutical matters.
Teva
We represent Teva in significant acquisitions, litigations, and investigations in multiple jurisdictions throughout the world.
Loral
We represented Loral Space & Communications Inc. in the sale of Space Systems/Loral to the strategic purchaser MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.
Naval Group
We represented Naval Group before both the FCA and the Conseil d’Etat in connection with the clearing of the creation of a joint venture between Naval Group and Piriou.
Thales
We represent Thales in acquisitions and antitrust issues throughout the world.
Orange
We represent Orange, one of the leading telecommunication services providers in Europe, in litigations and investigations before the European Commission and national competition authorities.
France Télévisions
We represent France Télévisions in state aid litigations and proceedings before the European Commission and Community Courts.
CMA CGM
We represent CMA CGM in several antitrust investigations before the European Commission and national antitrust authorities.
Air France KLM
We represent Air France KLM in a wide range of antitrust matters in Europe.