Professional notice
Our Antitrust & Competition Practice Group guides clients through their greatest challenges and opportunities relating to fair competition in a global marketplace. Our integrated team advises on all aspects of competition law. We provide preeminent criminal and civil antitrust litigation defense, government investigation defense, expedited transaction clearance and real-world counseling experience. Our attorneys worked as former prosecutors, supervisors and attorneys in the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and as prosecutors at a wide variety of other law enforcement agencies.
We work with buyers and sellers through all facets of the mergers and acquisitions regulatory clearance process, starting at the earliest stages of a deal to identify, allocate and reduce potential antitrust issues. By assessing the level of regulatory risk at the outset, we can better prepare the legal and economic analyses necessary to navigate clients through the entire deal negotiation and clearance process.
We have developed cost-effective systems and specially trained personnel for the preparation of Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) and foreign merger control notifications. We consistently file more HSR notifications in U.S. transactions than any other law firm in the world.
Our trial-ready reputation gives us an edge in antitrust litigation. We routinely defend our clients in their most important government-initiated investigations and in private antitrust cases in federal and state courts against the DOJ, the FTC and state attorneys general. In Europe, our attorneys successfully handle cases before the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal, the English High Court and the European Court in Luxembourg.
Litigation
Kirkland’s antitrust litigation practice is led by a core group of experienced and practical trial lawyers who successfully defend clients in their most important government-initiated and private antitrust cases. The team’s experience covers the full spectrum of antitrust claims, including cartels, monopolization, pricing disputes, unfair competition, price discrimination, intellectual property and merger-related litigation.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Kirkland has immense experience in U.S. and foreign M&A clearances. Kirkland files over 200 Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) notifications annually – the Firm files HSR notifications in approximately 17 percent of all transactions reported to U.S. antitrust agencies annually – and regularly handles transactions requiring European, Asian and Latin American antitrust clearances. Working closely with Kirkland’s corporate attorneys, the antitrust group provides realistic pre-transaction assessments, assists in contractual risk allocation negotiations, and secures expedited regulatory clearances.
International
Kirkland has extensive experience working with the antitrust and competition agencies around the world. Kirkland has competition lawyers in London and Shanghai, plus a network of competition attorney contacts, including throughout Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, the remainder of Europe, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and many other countries. This network ensures seamless compliance with the relevant notification requirements and allows for prompt competition clearances from those authorities.
Website: www.kirkland.com