Hunton & Williams LLP

Hunton & Williams LLP feature in our coverage in a number of jurisdictions.

Brussels

Hunton & Williams LLP made a splash this year with the lateral hire of partner Paul McGeown from Linklaters LLP. McGeown, who has been with Linklaters since 2001, making partner in 2004, takes the number of partners in the Brussels competition group to three. They are supported by five associates.

"It's important for us to grow in size, thereby also covering the main national jurisdictions," says partner Michael Rosenthal. "Cartel cases require manpower, as well as an ability to work in other languages to pick up on nuances when conducting interviews."

Hunton & Williams represented Delta Air Lines before the European Commission when it acquired Northwest Airlines to create the world's largest passenger airline. It also advised Airdata in a complaint before the commission regarding frequency allocation in Germany. Other clients include Man AG, Star Capital Partners and Rail Cargo Austria, which acquired MAV Cargo to create Europe's third-largest rail cargo provider.

US: Governmental Antitrust

Hunton & Williams LLP came under new leadership this year, when practice leader and former head of the DoJ's antitrust division, R Hewitt Pate, left the firm to take up the position as vice president and general counsel at energy company Chevron Corporation. Pate says the firm's success stems from its ability to recruit lawyers with recent agency experience. His successor, D Bruce Hoffman, who now heads the antitrust team, has experience at the US Federal Trade Commission. Hoffman is supported in DC by a further five partners, two of counsel and 10 associates.

The competition group continues to advise longstanding client Delta Air Lines, winning unconditional clearance from the US Department of Justice for the takeover of Northwest Airlines following a second request.

The team acts for MasterCard in the payment card interchange fee multi-district litigation. It is also advising Silver Lake Technology Management in a putative class action. The company is accused of bid rigging and market allocation.

Other competition clients include Raytheon, Estes Express Lines and UBS Securities.