Antitrust & Competition

Goodwin’s Antitrust & Competition team has unparalleled expertise in handling the full range of antitrust matters for our clients, from merger clearance to complex litigation. In parallel with the firm’s focus on the technology, life science and private equity industries, our antitrust lawyers bring decades of experience in advising clients in these industries on their most complex antitrust matters.

Merger Clearance

Our success is measured by our key motivation: keeping our clients out of the antitrust news and securing clearance of their transactions. Having advised on more than 2,500 transactions, Goodwin’s Antitrust & Competition lawyers routinely counsel clients from the largest Fortune 500 companies to emerging growth companies. In many industry verticals with heightened antitrust scrutiny, we guide more transactions through the agencies than any other firm.

We are experts at handling the often complex issues raised in the large number of transactions in the private equity ecosystem. And we have uniquely combined a fast-paced merger-clearance expertise with a deep sector specialization in life sciences and technology to provide our clients with the advice they need in the more contentious merger-clearance matters. We take pride in understanding our clients’ businesses such that we can advise them on regulatory risks and, where necessary, quickly and efficiently explain the procompetitive benefits of any transaction to antitrust and competition enforcers. We also have a team of lawyers who have successfully defended hundreds of matters through the second request process or other intensive government investigations.

Litigation & Enforcement

With a roster of former federal prosecutors, business counselors and seasoned trial lawyers, our Antitrust & Competition team handles the gamut of antitrust litigation matters from criminal enforcement to complex civil litigation. Our lawyers have:

  • Successfully secured amnesty applications in criminal cartel matters
  • Handled internal investigations of potential civil and criminal antitrust violations
  • Tried competition cases to juries, judges and arbitrators throughout the U.S., on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants
  • Tried numerous  “pay-for-delay” cases for branded and generic drug manufacturers
  • Assisted clients in antitrust investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, European Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK.

Counseling on Operational Business Issues

As a firm, our core strength is a track record of collaborating across our different practice areas to provide “lifecycle” counsel to our clients. We have a deep bench of antitrust experts who provide counseling on pricing policies, distribution practices, supplier and customer relations, advertising and marketing practices, joint ventures and related competitor collaborations, as well as interlocking directorates.