what is antitrust lawyer

What Do Antitrust Lawyers Do?

• Enforcing Antitrust Laws. In this instance, antitrust lawyers would take on businesses that have engaged in unfair practices. ...
• Defending Against Antitrust Allegations. If a company is charged with violating antitrust laws, they'll need legal representation. ...
• Providing Advice to Keep Companies Out of Trouble. ...
• There's a Lot of General Work in Common. ...

Full Answer

What can your friendly antitrust lawyer do for You?

Antitrust lawyers are there to ensure that business complies with antitrust laws and that they do not participate in unfair business ventures that impact competition and/or consumers negatively. They do this several different ways. Enforcing Antitrust Laws. In this instance, antitrust lawyers would take on businesses that have engaged in unfair practices.

What is an antitrust attorney?

Antitrust lawyers can represent individuals and businesses in a variety of antitrust violation cases, including but not limited to: Mergers and acquisitions Price-fixing Bid-rigging Monopolizing Group Boycotts Market Division Our antitrust lawyers understand and navigate complex competition issues and provide clients with sound legal guidance.

What do you know about antitrust law?

 · An antitrust lawyer is going to defend the companies who are trying to compete with other companies in their designated market and give them the opportunity to keep competition high. A lawyer’s job in this scenario is to advise the business while making sure they are abiding by business laws. Specifically, antitrust laws put into motion in ...

How to learn antitrust law well?

Overview. Antitrust attorneys help companies navigate competition issues created by organic growth or acquisition under national and international laws and regulations. Antitrust attorneys straddle the line between litigation and corporate attorneys. They may advise about possible antitrust regulatory issues in an acquisition or other ...

What is antitrust law example?

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 type of crime is antitrust?

Antitrust laws are meant to preserve competition in order to promote these consumer benefits. Violations are considered a type of white collar crime because they hurt competition, cause an increase in consumer prices, and can potentially damage the economy.

What do you mean by antitrust?

Definition of antitrust : of, relating to, or being legislation against or opposition to trusts or combinations specifically : consisting of laws to protect trade and commerce from unlawful restraints and monopolies or unfair business practices.

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.

Is antitrust law criminal law?

Although most enforcement actions are civil, the Sherman Act is also a criminal law, and individuals and businesses that violate it may be prosecuted by the Department of Justice. Criminal prosecutions are typically limited to intentional and clear violations such as when competitors fix prices or rig bids.

What are the 3 antitrust laws?

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

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.

What did anti-trust laws try to do?

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act authorized the federal government to institute proceedings against trusts in order to dissolve them. Any combination "in the form of trust or otherwise that was in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations" was declared illegal.

Common Antitrust Law Violations

Most antitrust violations are committed by companies seeking to hinder free competition. Some of the most common cases of antitrust violations involve:

Where Can I Report Antitrust Violations?

You can report an antitrust violation to the Bureau of Competition or the Citizen Complaint Center. When reporting violations, you will be asked to provide some or all of the following information:

What Types of Damages Are Recoverable in an Antitrust Lawsuit?

Violations of antitrust law and limiting competition can be exceptionally financially damaging to individuals, corporations, and consumers. In order to deter companies from committing antitrust violations, damages awarded in lawsuits can be considerable and include triple compensation. According to 15. U.S.

Can an Individual File Antitrust Lawsuits?

Just as businesses can be harmed by anticompetitive conduct, individuals can also suffer financial damages.

What is the Sherman Act?

The Sherman Act of 1890 was introduced to prohibit activities that reduce competition, such as price-fixing, limiting industrial output, and monopolization. In the early 20th century, the Sherman Act was slightly modified by the Supreme Court to include that acts restricting trade must involve “unreasonable” conduct to be unlawful.

How Long Do Antitrust Lawsuits Take?

Since all antitrust lawsuits are unique, it can be next to impossible to determine the length of a lawsuit in advance. In complex cases, when a lengthy investigation may be necessary, antitrust lawsuits could potentially last a year or more. The length of a case can also depend on whether a suit is resolved in or out of court.

How Can an Antitrust Lawyer Help Me?

If you or your business suffered damages due to other companies engaging in anticompetitive and unlawful conduct, an antitrust lawyer could help you get justice and fight for fair compensation.

What is antitrust law?

At the abstract level, the law exists to protect consumers and businesses alike from companies that grow so large and powerful they can harm the markets—either by imposing artificially high prices, blocking competitors from offering better products, or both.

What are some examples of antitrust laws?

What is an Example of an Antitrust Law? In the United States, federal antitrust legislation exists in three main laws: The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The Clayton Act of 1914. The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914.

What is the Clayton Act?

The Clayton Act defines several more anti-competitive practices, including mergers or acquisitions where the effect “may substantially lessen competition.” In those cases, the Justice Department can bring the merger before a federal judge. The judge reviews the deal and then decides whether the deal can proceed, or the companies should take remedial measures such as divesting certain business units or promising not to launch certain products.

What is the Sherman Act?

The Sherman Act outlaws certain types of behavior that are anti-competitive, such as several companies conspiring to fix prices or divide a market. The Justice Department has the power to bring civil or criminal charges against the companies or the individual executives involved.

What are the anti-competition laws in the EU?

The European Union has its own set of anti-competition laws, codified in several articles of the EU’s founding treaty. Those laws try to address several abusive business practices: Cartels, where several companies work together to stifle competition. Market dominance by one firm.

Will antitrust laws recede?

Antitrust law has been a mainstay of regulatory enforcement against large businesses for decades, and it will not recede any time soon.

Can employees violate antitrust laws?

Clear, relevant policies. Employees (and third parties, such as res ellers) can violate antitrust law in any number of ways. A policy that only says, “Don’t collude with competitors” isn’t sufficient.

What is antitrust law?

Jeff White, partner: The antitrust laws are about protecting competition and consumers. They have relevance to products and services sold on a daily basis, and without the antitrust laws we would undoubtedly see much higher prices for those same products and services, less quality, and less innovation.

What is the day in the life of an antitrust litigator?

EH: The “day in the life” of an antitrust litigator runs the gamut. Some days you could be in court arguing dispositive motions, other days you are meeting with clients and C-suite executives to prepare for depositions and discuss case strategy. And some days take you back to law school, and you have to read cases and edit a brief. The common denominator is people skills, as you are always interacting and working with team members from the most junior associate and paralegal to the General Counsel and CEO of a client.

What are the three pillars of antitrust?

EH: Across the three pillars of antitrust – criminal enforcement, mergers and civil non-merger enforcement – the work should remain busy.

What is the common denominator in law school?

The common denominator is people skills, as you are always interacting and working with team members from the most junior associate and paralegal to the General Counsel and CEO of a client.

Do junior associates take ownership of M&A matters?

BK: Our M&A transaction matters tend to be staffed leanly so junior associates often have an opportunity to shine and really take ownership of certain aspects of a matter. Partners will rely heavily on associates regardless of their year, although senior associates are more likely to take the lead on communications with the client or antitrust agency.

What is BK in antitrust?

BK: They are critical members of the team. They become experts on the client or industry at issue and ensure that the matter runs smoothly, including interfacing with the client, with antitrust counsel for the other party to the transaction, and with the US antitrust agencies.

Is antitrust enforcement in the pharmaceutical sector aggressive?

EH: Public and private antitrust enforcement in the health care and pharmaceutical sectors continues to be aggressive.

Antitrust law in the United States refers to the group of state and federal laws that regulate the conduct of businesses

Antitrust litigation is legal action taken against businesses for unfair business practices. Parties may sue under the U.S. antitrust laws any businesses who attempt to restrict competition by building monopolies.

Antitrust litigation is legal action taken against businesses for unfair business practices. Parties may sue under the U.S. antitrust laws any businesses who attempt to restrict competition by building monopolies

Antitrust litigation is legal action taken against businesses for unfair business practices. Parties may sue under the U.S. antitrust laws any businesses who attempt to restrict competition by building monopolies.

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.

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.

Is antitrust compliance a smart idea?

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.

Do you need a big law firm to handle antitrust cases?

You don’t need a big law firm to handle antitrust cases anymore. You need someone that can put together a strong team and can manage third-party providers for document and related issues. This is particularly true when defending antitrust class actions.

Do big law firms do antitrust litigation?

Here is something you might not consider: Companies have historically headed to the big law firms for antitrust litigation. But the core team for most antitrust litigation is relatively small, if staffed right—just a few to a handful of attorneys. The antitrust litigation team, however, swells for document review and production. That is where the big firms have made their big profits—putting junior and mid-level associates on document review at several hundred dollars or more per hour.

Is antitrust litigation fun?

Antitrust litigation itself is great fun. The cases are usually significant, document heavy, with difficult legal questions and an emphasis on economic testimony. Some of them even involve class actions or multi-district litigation.

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.