Antitrust and Competition

Businesses face a growing challenge navigating antitrust and competition laws around the world. Effective guidance in addressing these challenges can mean the difference between capitalizing on a strategic opportunity and risking criminal liability.

Our lawyers are at the forefront of the most important issues in antitrust and competition law, including:

• Dominant firm conduct
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Multinational investigations
• Joint ventures
• International cartel investigations
• State aid
• Private damage actions
• Distribution restrictions
• Intellectual property licensing

We have represented industry leaders around the world, including Areva, Baidu, DHL, General Motors, Heinz, Honda, Nova/Ineos, Microsoft, Nanya, NVIDIA, Novartis, Sony, Texas Instruments, Total, Visa and Whole Foods Market, among others.

Our lawyers have helped shape modern antitrust law in groundbreaking decisions in the U.S., Europe and Asia. In the U.S. Supreme Court, we were counsel to Weyerhaeuser in a case that expanded the limits of predatory pricing law. Our work on a high-profile U.S. merger case for Heinz/Beechnut established the standard of review for mergers involving efficiency claims. Orrick was the first firm to try a private damages case in the UK. Our firm also tried the first case to be accepted by the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court under the new Chinese Antitrust Law.

Many of our lawyers have served in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as well as in the European Commission and national competition agencies such as the UK's Office of Fair Trading and the Irish Competition Authority. One of our lawyers also served on a special advisory committee to the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of MOFCOM, China's antitrust regulator.

With the dramatic increase in cross-border antitrust and competition issues in recent years, Orrick's global reach allows us to provide clients with integrated, seamless representation. This capability has come into play in particular with coordination of international cartel investigations and cross-border M&A.

Our lawyers have been recognized for many years in numerous ranking publications and leading directories. In recent years, our Europe-based state aid practice, representing such clients as German coal producer RAG and a major international airline, has also earned a leading reputation.