Overview
Ropes & Gray’s global antitrust team offers top-flight representation across the full spectrum of antitrust matters. Built around veterans of the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, and including litigators and former prosecutors with deep antitrust experience, our global team has the experience, knowledge, and everyday understanding of business practices to help clients in all areas of antitrust law. Ropes & Gray’s award winning global antitrust practice is regularly ranked among the leading practices by high-profile publications such as Chambers, The Legal 500, Global Competition Review, and U.S. News & World Report.
We litigate complex antitrust cases, including patent-antitrust and price-fixing class actions, in U.S. state and federal courts as well as EU litigations before the UK High Court and the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal. We handle civil and criminal antitrust investigations before antitrust enforcement agencies in the U.S., Europe and Asia. We also represent clients on global cartel matters. Our collective experience before antitrust agencies in the U.S., Europe and Asia allows us to provide a seamless service globally and reflects a variety of strategic factors in decision-making.
The firm’s antitrust group has an extensive record of success representing clients clearing transactions before U.S. antitrust enforcement agencies, including in Second Request investigations, the UK Competition and Markets Authority, the European Commission and other EU institutions. Our leading HSR practice provides companies with clear guidance on regulatory filing requirements and frequently coordinates merger filings in jurisdictions around the world. Our antitrust team also has extensive experience in procuring FDI clearances from agencies worldwide, including notifications under the U.K. NSIA regime, and the EU screening regime.
Our antitrust team works seamlessly across industries with our leading corporate and litigation practices offering clients a full range of services including:
Experience
Ropes & Gray’s antitrust attorneys have cleared some of the most notable mergers and acquisitions of the past decade and have successfully represented clients in court and before arbitral panels as well as antitrust agencies in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Clients regularly turn to us for antitrust counseling on their most difficult and sensitive issues, with recent successful work that includes:
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Litigation
- Counseling
- Criminal antitrust
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Pfizer on the merger control aspects relating to its $5.4 billion acquisition of Global Blood Therapeutics.
- Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) on the regulatory and antitrust aspects of its $7.3 billion merger with EQT. The transaction won “Private Equity Deal of the Year” at the Asia Legal Awards.
- Medtronic in connection with its $1.1 billion acquisition of Intersect ENT.
- Signify Health in its sale to CVS Health for $8 billion. The transaction closed following antitrust review and investigation by the Department of Justice, including a Second Request.
- Ginkgo Bioworks in connection with its agreement to acquire biotechnology company Zymergen for approximately $300 million.
- Bain Capital in connection with its $7.5 billion leveraged tender offer for Hitachi Metals. The transaction was recognized as a winner for “Technology, Media and Telecommunications Deal of the Year” by Asian Legal Business’ ALB Japan Law Awards.
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc. in its successful antitrust advocacy with the DOJ in connection with its merger with Tufts Health Plan, Inc.
- Wright Medical Group on its agreement to be acquired by Stryker Corporation in a transaction with a total enterprise value of approximately $5.4 billion.
- Bain Capital in connection with its consortium acquisition of Toshiba Memory Corporation for approximately $18 billion
- Emory Healthcare in its strategic partnership with DeKalb Medical in Atlanta, Georgia
Litigation
- Google in the United States v. Google (D.D.C.) monopolization suit. The United States v. Google litigation earned Ropes & Gray recognition for “Behavioral Matter of the Year” in 2022 by Global Competition Review.
- Investment firm in an ESG-related antitrust and consumer protection investigation launched by state attorney general’s office.
- Johns Hopkins University in a class action antitrust lawsuit.
- Hitachi-LG Data Services in direct and indirect purchaser antitrust class actions alleging price-fixing
- Cablevision in an unlawful tying and monopolization suit in connection with cable set-top boxes
- Charter Communications in connection with the State AG suit to block T-Mobile/Sprint
- Eversource in connection with a class action suit alleging violations of federal and state antitrust and consumer protection laws resulting in $3.6 billion overpayment of electricity costs by New England consumers
- Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings and Polar Air Cargo LLC, in a multi-district antitrust litigation alleging market manipulation and claiming that our clients’ international pricing practices violated U.S., state, and European Union antitrust laws
- Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, Steward Healthcare (successor to IASIS Healthcare) and others in a suit brought by a prominent surgeon arising out of the summary suspension of his medical staff privileges
- Multinational biotechnology company in a suit alleging antitrust claims and common law claims arising out of the termination of a distribution agreement
Counseling
By anticipating antitrust concerns, we are able to preempt issues before they affect crucial operations, counseling clients on their most important business arrangements, as well as interactions with suppliers, customers, and competitors. Companies we counsel include, among others:
- 3i Group PLC
- Altera
- Bain Capital
- Becton Dickinson
- Blackstone
- Cablevision
- General Atlantic
- Genstar Capital
- IASIS Healthcare
- MultiPlan, Inc.
- NYU Langone Medical Center
- Pfizer
- Shire
- The Jackson Laboratory
- TJX Cos.
- TPG Capital
- TravelCLICK
- Trinseo
- Warburg Pincus
- Wright Medical Technology
Awards
- Chambers USA 2023—Ranked as a leading antitrust firm in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.
- Chambers UK 2023—Practitioners ranked in “Competition Law”
- The Legal 500 US 2023—Ranked as a leading firm in ‘Merger Control’, ‘Cartels’ and ‘Civil Litigation/Class Actions’
- The Legal 500 UK 2023—Ranked as a leading firm in ‘EU and Competition’
- Global Competition Review 100 2023—Recognized as a leading firm
- U.S. News & World Report-Best Lawyers Best Law Firms 2023—Recommended as a tier 1 firm in ‘Antitrust Law’ and “Litigation – Antitrust”
- The Best Lawyers in America 2023—Practitioners ranked in Antitrust Law and Litigation – Antitrust
- LMG Life Sciences 2023—Highly Recommended in ‘Competition & Antitrust’
