how to be a godo antitrust lawyer

What Makes a Good Antitrust Lawyer? Antitrust lawyers require the same skills as any lawyer. They should be hardworking, determined, organized, and excellent at writing and speaking. They should also not stop learning and should always be trying to piece things together. A sound understanding and knowledge of economics would be beneficial.

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What's it like being a government antitrust lawyer?

Many government antitrust lawyers work just as hard as their law firm counterparts, especially in litigation-heavy practice areas, but there are certainly government roles that offer a better balance. Of the people in this practice group who hate it, what exactly do they hate about it?

Do I need an antitrust lawyer for a merger?

If the antitrust agency actually challenges the transaction, then your antitrust attorney gets to wear his or her litigation or administrative agency hat—depending upon which agency challenges the merger. The FTC or DOJ might even call you about a merger in your industry that doesn’t involve you. If that happens, an antitrust lawyer can help you.

Is all business litigation antitrust?

Although much of our litigation is, in fact, antitrust litigation, much of it is not. In the business v. business litigation especially, even in cases that involve an antitrust claim, there are typically several other types of claims that are not antitrust.

Do you need an antitrust compliance policy?

This is quite common. Sometimes a company or association will want to develop an antitrust compliance policy. That is a smart idea, by the way. Other times the company will want to know if taking a certain action or developing the business a certain way carries antitrust risks.

What is it like to be an antitrust lawyer?

Antitrust lawyers tend to be smart, methodical, and cerebral. Antitrust practitioners work across industries, and each engagement requires the attorneys to understand the products or services... “The cross-time zone global nature of my practice is what makes it so interesting.

Is Antitrust Law difficult?

U.S. antitrust law, however, is not that complicated. It is, for good reasons, based upon a handful of rather simple rules whose application does not always require deep understanding of the implications of market power and often calls for a separate assessment of certain kinds of market power.

What are the big 3 antitrust laws?

The three major Federal antitrust laws are: The Sherman Antitrust Act. The Clayton Act. The Federal Trade Commission Act.

What type of law is antitrust law?

Antitrust law – sometimes referred to as "competition law" – focuses on the statutes and regulations that promote fair and open competition within different industries and geographic markets.

Why do you like antitrust law?

Antitrust ensures that the market will remain a fair place to conduct business where every business has a chance, and every consumer has choices. Because antitrust law deals with business and economic knowledge, knowing specific market details could benefit antitrust lawyers when building a case.

Do antitrust laws still exist?

With some revisions, these are the three core federal antitrust laws still in effect today. The antitrust laws proscribe unlawful mergers and business practices in general terms, leaving courts to decide which ones are illegal based on the facts of each case.

Is Amazon a monopoly?

Though Amazon may be dominant on its platform, with a steady stream of entrants into the market, it still allows competition to occur. Although its size is large, when analyzing Amazon's actions through the lens of the current definition of a monopoly from the Federal Trade Commission, Amazon is not a monopoly.

Why is it called antitrust?

Antitrust law is the law of competition. Why then is it called “antitrust”? The answer is that these laws were originally established to check the abuses threatened or imposed by the immense “trusts” that emerged in the late 19th Century.

What is another word for antitrust?

antimonopolyIn this page you can discover 4 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for antitrust, like: antimonopoly, , anti-competition and doj.

Are antitrust laws good?

Antitrust laws protect competition. Free and open competition benefits consumers by ensuring lower prices and new and better products. In a freely competitive market, each competing business generally will try to attract consumers by cutting its prices and increasing the quality of its products or services.

What do antitrust laws make illegal?

Also called “competition laws,” antitrust laws prohibit unfair competition. Competitors in an industry cannot use certain tactics, such as market division, price fixing, or agreements not to compete. And companies cannot abuse their monopoly power to force smaller competitors out of business.

What is an example of antitrust?

An example of behavior that antitrust laws prohibit is lowering the price in a certain geographic area in order to push out the competition. For example, a large company sells widgets for $1.00 each throughout the country. Another company goes into business and sells widgets just in California or $. 90 each.

What is Antitrust Law?

With their potential for multimillion dollar damage awards as well as their potential for restructuring entire industries (such as the telecommunic...

Where do antitrust lawyers work?

Antitrust lawyers work in both law firms and in government. Those who work in law firms generally work in mid-size to large law firms that have dep...

Who are their clients and what types of cases do they work on?

In an antitrust practice, attorneys generally represent businesses. Explains Ralph Lipshitz, of Carlton Fields in Tampa, Florida, My clients are, f...

What daily activities are involved in antitrust practice?

Ralph and Bill report that their antitrust litigation and client counseling activities vary from day to day. Explains Ralph, Every day I am working...

What do antitrust lawyers find rewarding about their practice?

The antitrust lawyers we talked to enjoy the role they play in helping their clients solve difficult problems. Explains Ralph, I like having the op...

How do people enter the field of antitrust law?

Some attorneys enter antitrust practice directly out of law school. Those attorneys generally work as summer associates at law firms with antitrust...

What skills are most important to antitrust lawyers?

Antitrust lawyers need exceptional writing skills. In this area of law, it's important to write well, says Maxine . You have to communicate clearly...

What classes and law school experiences do antitrust lawyers recommend?

Take an antitrust class in law school. An antitrust class is key, says Alex Morrisey. Antitrust is an area of law that is case driven. My law schoo...

What Makes a Good Antitrust Lawyer?

Antitrust lawyers require the same skills as any lawyer. They should be hardworking, determined, organized, and excellent at writing and speaking. They should also not stop learning and should always be trying to piece things together.

What Is Antitrust Law?

Antitrust law, often referred to as competition law, protects business competition and consumers by promoting and regulating fair competition in the marketplace. Antitrust law is what prevents unfair business acts such as:

What Behaviors Violate Antitrust Law?

There are a variety of shady business practices that violate antitrust law. Basically, if a business interferes with free-market practices in any way, they could be violating antitrust legislation. Here we'll go through some of the most common transgressions.

Why is antitrust important?

Antitrust ensures that the market will remain a fair place to conduct business where every business has a chance, and every consumer has choices. Because antitrust law deals with business and economic knowledge, knowing specific market details could benefit antitrust lawyers when building a case.

Why do companies fix their prices?

In this case, the companies will often set their prices lower than they should in an effort to undercut new entrants. The newer companies can't compete with these fixed prices.

How much is the Sherman Act fine?

Fines for violating this act can span from $1 million to $100 million. The upper end of this range is usually reserved for corporations.

Is antitrust law a form of law?

Antitrust law can be an exciting form of law to practice . There are so many opportunities here and so many varied cases. If you're prosecuting offenders , finding sufficient evidence can be tricky. The large companies will usually try to bury you in paperwork to cloud the issue. So, do be prepared for doing a lot of research and digging.

What is an antitrust lawyer?

Antitrust lawyers study markets and competition and are the warriors of courtroom competition between competitors. If you have a legal dispute with a competitor, you should call your friendly antitrust attorney.

Who can help you with antitrust?

An antitrust attorney can help you here too. If you discover that you or your company is under investigation, you should definitely contact an attorney.

What happens if an antitrust agency challenges a merger?

If the antitrust agency actually challenges the transaction, then your antitrust attorney gets to wear his or her litigation or administrative agency hat—de pending upon which agency challenges the merger.

What to do if merger doesn't involve you?

The FTC or DOJ might even call you about a merger in your industry that doesn’t involve you. If that happens, an antitrust lawyer can help you.

What are the types of antitrust violations?

The types of conduct that most often end up as part of a criminal investigation or indictment are the per se violations: mostly price-fixing, market-allocation, and bid-rigging agreements.

What do lawyers do?

Some lawyers focus on litigation. Other attorneys spend their time on transactions or mergers & acquisitions. Many lawyers offer some sort of legal counseling. Another group—often in Washington, DC or Brussels —spend their time close to the government, usually either administrative agencies or the legislature. And perhaps the most interesting attorneys try to keep their clients out of jail.

Can antitrust claims work?

Perhaps they read this blog post. Sometimes they do, indeed, have a potential antitrust claim. But in other instances, an antitrust claim probably won’t work, but another claim might fit, perhaps a Lanham Act claim for false advertising, or tortuous interference with contract, or some sort of state unfair trade practice claim.

Advising Business Clients on Antitrust Risks

I can’t speak for all antitrust attorneys, but here is how I handle counseling clients on antitrust risks:

Antitrust Risk Counseling: Resale Price Maintenance and Colgate Policies

A great example of this approach in action is Resale Price Maintenance. As we explain in this article on Leegin, for many years resale price agreements between manufacturers and retailers were per se illegal under the antitrust laws.

Where do antitrust attorneys work?

Plenty of antitrust attorneys also spend their whole careers in government, including at state attorney general’s offices. And some antitrust attorneys land in-house positions, though only certain industries need in-house antitrust specialists, like pharmaceutical and tech companies.

What is the best thing about antitrust?

Besides that, one of the best things about antitrust is that each new matter is an opportunity to learn an industry from top to bottom. Antitrust lawyers become experts in all kinds of surprising areas.

What is antitrust law?

The practice of antitrust falls into several big categories: civil and criminal litigation, merger and transactional work, and counseling. Some antitrust lawyers specialize in one or two of these areas, while others maintain broad practices that cover all of them.

How do firms structure their antitrust practices?

Firms structure their antitrust practices in varying ways that can have an impact on the type of work a junior associate does. For example, some firms fold their antitrust attorneys into the litigation department, so that junior associates may be staffed to other types of matters as well. Some firms have dedicated attorneys to handle the somewhat specialized work of pre-merger antitrust filings while others do not.

What is merger litigation?

Merger litigation, though uncommon, involves preliminary injunctions and moves at an intense pace. Class-action litigation tends to have a longer time horizon but can still involve time crunches around major milestones and, needless to say, becomes more fast-paced the closer it gets to trial.

What is the importance of good judgment in antitrust?

Good judgment is essential to be able to sort through the many gray areas that arise in antitrust and provide useful advice to clients.

What is the strong public policy element of antitrust?

The strong public policy element of antitrust means there are always interesting debates to be had about how aggressive enforcement should be, what types of business conduct the antitrust laws should address, and which economic and legal tools should be applied.

What is a corporate lawyer?

A corporate lawyer is an attorney who represents the company they work for. It's common for a larger business, and small companies too, to hire corporate attorneys to make sure it's in compliance for its industry and following all rules and regulations.

What to do while in school to become an attorney?

While you're in school, attend career fairs your college hosts. You'll have the opportunity to meet with attorneys at various companies and firms and speak with them about your career ambitions and the skills you've already learned while in school. You can ask these professionals if you can schedule an informational meeting with them off-campus to learn more about their firm.

How much does a corporate lawyer make?

The national average salary for a corporate lawyer in the United States is $130,857 per year, although your years of experience, education, skill set and geographical location can affect your salary. For example, the average salary for corporate lawyers in New York, New York is $186,861 per year, while the average salary for the same position in Montgomery, Texas is $111,973 per year.

What is a company representative?

Representing the company they work for in court, during regulation meetings and to administrative boards

Why is it important to be analytical in corporate law?

Analytical: It's necessary that corporate lawyers be able to form reasonable conclusions from the limited amount of information that's at their disposal. Your analytical skills can help you form sound arguments and develop stances and negotiations on behalf of the business.

Antitrust and Business Litigation

Transactions and Mergers & Acquisitions

Antitrust Counseling

• This is quite common. Sometimes a company or association will want to develop an antitrust compliance policy. That is a smart idea, by the way. Other times the company will want to know if taking a certain action or developing the business a certain way carries antitrust risks. To be useful, an antitrust attorney cannot just say “no” to any idea th...

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Administrative Law and Government Antitrust Enforcers

Criminal Antitrust Law