Professional notice
| Merger ranking: | - | Cartel ranking: | - | Litigation ranking: | - |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global head | Gail Levine, Britt Miller, William Stallings | ||||
| No. of jurisdictions with a GCR-ranked competition team | 4 | ||||
| Practice size | 75 | ||||
| Partners | 37 | ||||
| Counsel | 12 | ||||
| Percentage of partners/counsel in Who's Who Legal | 20% | ||||
| Associates | 26 | ||||
| Lateral partner hires | 3 | ||||
| Partner departures | 0 | ||||
| Former senior enforcers who are partners/counsel | 7 | ||||
Mayer Brown enters our Global Elite rankings after strengthening its competition practice in Europe. The firm has long housed excellent antitrust teams in Chicago and Washington, DC, but it now boasts GCR-ranked practices in France and Germany as well. The latter was established at the back end of 2020, after the firm poached partners Christian Horstkotte and Johannes Weichbrodt from Baker McKenzie. The firm also hired Gail Levine in May 2021 in Washington, DC, after she stepped down as deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission’s bureau of competition. She co-chairs the firm’s wider competition group alongside fellow partners Britt Miller and William Stallings. Mark Ryan, the former head of Mayer Brown’s global competition practice, sadly passed away in November 2020.
Mayer Brown is involved in prominent litigation in the US, defending clients in class actions alleging price fixing among meat producers and salmon farms. In October 2020, Mayer Brown litigators won dismissal with prejudice of sprawling antitrust claims brought against Indiana Packers Corporation in connection with the company’s production and sale of various pork products. The case, which was filed in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota, named IPC, seven other pork processors and a prominent benchmarking service as defendants. Mayer Brown also won an appellate victory for Lukoil Pan Americas in a closely watched multibillion dollar case alleging that a group of oil traders rigged bids for tenders of oil products produced by the Venezuelan national oil company, PDVSA, while also conspiring to inflate the price of oil extraction equipment sold to PDVSA. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled in March 2021 that a litigation trust created by the Maduro regime and Boies Schiller did not have standing to sue Lukoil because the trust had breached New York law.
In Europe, Mayer Brown is representing Macedonian Thrace Brewery (MTB) in the company’s pursuit of damages from Heineken in relation to anticompetitive practices and market abuse by Heineken’s Greek subsidiary, Athenian Brewery. MTB’s lawsuit in the Netherlands follows a ruling by the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) that found Athenian Brewery had abused its dominant position in the Greek market for more than 16 years.
Alongside its work in the US and EU, the firm is also active in Brazil. In March 2020, the tribunal for Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE) confirmed a leniency agreement Mayer Brown had negotiated on behalf of NSK as the enforcer conducted a cartel investigation into markets for electronic power steering systems for automobiles. In exchange for reporting its behaviour to CADE, NSK received full amnesty on the antitrust and criminal fronts. The antitrust practice has also advised on several transactions in the country. For example, it represented General Electric in selling parts of its air quality control system technology to international technology group Andritz. It also advised financial technology company HUB Prepaid Participações in its acquisition by Magalu Payments. Both deals received a second request from CADE.
Mayer Brown also represents clients in abuse of dominance and resale price maintenance investigations, but much of that information is confidential.
Overview
With a substantial presence in the Americas, Asia and Europe, Mayer Brown’s Antitrust & Competition group is an integral part of the firm’s offering. Our global team of competition lawyers works effectively across continents to deliver the highest quality service to meet client needs.
Operating as a single, integrated practice, and in coordination with a trusted network of leading local practitioners, we are able to provide a one-stop shop for competition advice in all major competition law jurisdictions.
We have an outstanding record of successfully advising clients in some of the most challenging competition cases before regulatory authorities and courts around the world, and provide counseling and compliance services to many of the world’s largest companies. Our aim is to provide practical solutions that help businesses achieve their commercial objectives while ensuring that they remain in full compliance with the law.
Competition law issues are often part of a larger legal framework, such as a global merger that requires regulatory clearance or investigations that raise multiple issues. We work seamlessly with colleagues in the wider firm to manage and mitigate a wide variety of regulatory risks and conduct related internal investigations and litigation, all to ensure that the client has a comprehensive strategy and can achieve its goals.
We also have excellent relationships with regulators. Our team includes former officials from the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Antitrust Division, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Assistant US Attorneys as well as non-governmental advisers who participate with senior competition officials in the International Competition Network.
We guide clients through:
Merger Control – providing representation on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and collaborations. We advise on compliance with premerger notification requirements (including in relation to foreign investment regimes), counsel on and analyze substantive issues raised by proposed transactions, manage multi-jurisdictional filings and represent companies throughout the clearance process. We frequently appear in merger investigations before the US DOJ, US FTC, the European Commission, EU national competition authorities, the UK Competition and Markets Authority, and China's Ministry of Commerce, as well as other antitrust authorities.
Cartels – advising on many of the largest international cartel investigations, we are also active at the cutting edge of the development and growth of leniency regimes worldwide. We have supported clients through dawn raids, successful applications for immunity and reductions in fines, and trial, as well as advising on follow-on damages actions.
Litigation – handling, through our global experience and resources, multi-jurisdictional litigation before courts and regulatory agencies in Asia, Europe and the Americas. We have represented our clients in some of the largest competition cases in the US and abroad, including before the US Supreme Court. Our depth of experience enables us to deliver the most current counseling and advice to our clients, wherever they do business.
Dominance – advising on a wide range of matters involving alleged abuse of dominance, including litigation before the courts and complaints to the competition authorities. We have represented major international companies, market entrants and industry associations in preparing and submitting complaints in respect of allegedly abusive practices by incumbent operators.
State Aid – advising public and private sector bodies on State aid/subsidy control issues, including notifications to, and investigations by, the European Commission and related litigation. We have advised governmental bodies on structuring aid so as to comply with the State aid rules and have advised aid recipients on mitigating potential State aid risk. We assist companies disposing of businesses on the best ways of managing competition risk and advise complainants and third parties in challenging unfair competitive advantages.
Regulatory Risk – undertaking evaluations of competition risks faced by the different business lines of a company, in order to understand the relevant commercial activities and to designed tailored compliance programs appropriately. We have market-leading capabilities in a wide range of related areas of regulatory risk including anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, contingency/emergency planning, data privacy, financial regulation, government contracts, international trade and sanctions.
Website: www.mayerbrown.com