Professional notice
| Merger ranking | 8 | Litigation ranking | - | Cartel ranking | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global head | J Mark Gidley | ||||
| No. of jurisdictions with a GCR-ranked competition team | 11 | ||||
| Practice size | 212 | ||||
| Partners | 54 | ||||
| Counsel | 30 | ||||
| Percentage of partners/counsel in Who's Who Legal | 9% | ||||
| Associates | 128 | ||||
| Lateral partner hires | 2 | ||||
| Partner departures | 2 | ||||
| Former senior enforcers who are partners/counsel | 18 | ||||
It has been a successful 12 months for White & Case, which is reflected in the firm’s jump to sixth place. J Mark Gidley continues to lead the global competition team, which boasts 54 partners and 30 counsel and is abound with ex-enforcers from agencies including the US Department of Justice, the European Commission and Japan’s Fair Trade Commission. The October 2018 acquisition of rising Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton star Tilman Kuhn was a coup for the practice and a real statement of intent.
One of the firm’s standout merger cases from the past year was advising Deutsche Telekom as its subsidiary, T-Mobile Netherlands, merged with rival Tele2. The EU unconditionally cleared the four-to-three merger in November 2018. White & Case also advised Newmont Mining Group as it acquired rival Goldcorp and in a joint venture with Barrick, which created the world’s largest gold mining company.
Pharmaceutical work remains one of the firm’s great strengths. In December 2018, the EU General Court cut the European Commission’s fine on client Servier by €100 million, finding the authority incorrectly defined the relevant market when it probed the drug maker’s patent settlements with five generic drug companies. The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal in 2018 overturned a €84.2 million fine on White & Case client Pfizer for alleged excessive pricing. The appeal against that decision is set to be heard before the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in late 2019, and will likely have significant ramifications on how future excessive pricing cases will be analysed.
In the US, White & Case represented Allergan in winning reversal of end-payor class certification in the Asacol class action litigation. The plaintiffs had challenged the drug maker’s alleged product hopping, but lost a second motion to certify the class in a district court.
The firm is also involved in high-profile cartel cases, representing clients in the Euribor, Air Cargo and Power Cables investigations. It co-advises Google as the company appeals against the EU’s AdSense and Android fines. Away from Europe, the firm counselled Glovo in relation to allegations by Egypt’s competition authority that the online food-delivery company left the Egyptian market after coming to an anticompetitive allocation agreement with a German competitor. Glovo agreed to return to the market and avoided fines.
Clients throughout the world seek the advice of White & Case antitrust lawyers. They count on their extensive experience in litigation against governmental authorities or private parties, counseling on delicate questions and comprehensive worldwide coverage of merger control regimes.
White & Case has experience in all aspects of global cartel investigations, including global diversity, parallel civil Sherman Act class actions, European Union proceedings, extradition and extraterritorial discovery.
White & Case advises clients worldwide on the complexities of proposed cross-border transactions (mergers, joint ventures). They produce a regularly updated comprehensive catalogue of global merger notification requirements.
With more than 190 lawyers in 23 offices, White & Case offers clients an integrated worldwide team of competition law professionals, providing a coordinated approach to the increasingly global competitive issues facing our clients: corporations, investment banks, partnerships, trade associations, information exchanges and individuals.
The international nature of White & Case’s antitrust practice has enabled them to develop particular experience in advising on cross-border or international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, licensing and distribution arrangements and criminal investigations. They also offer comprehensive advice on national requirements in over 70 countries worldwide. They have been privileged to handle some of the most complex multijurisdictional antitrust matters of recent times.
White & Case is in constant direct contact with the world's most influential antitrust authorities through the multijurisdictional lawyers in our Washington DC, New York and Brussels offices. They work closely together with our other competition lawyers worldwide, allowing us to advise on the full range of competition issues in virtually all jurisdictions. Many of our other offices also offer comprehensive global antitrust counseling, including Tokyo, Mexico City, Paris, Moscow, Istanbul, Warsaw, London, Hamburg, Prague and Bratislava.