Cahill’s antitrust practice is highly sophisticated and includes litigation and transactional representation and counseling. We assist clients with mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and other significant transactions, and routinely advise them on antitrust aspects of distribution arrangements, intellectual property licensing, trade association activities, and pricing policies. In its 2011 edition, Chambers USA ranks Cahill among the top 20 antitrust practices in New York, describing the group as: "A team with experienced lawyers in all aspects of antitrust. The attorneys are very responsive and always quick in coming up with sound, well-reasoned solutions."
We have successfully represented clients in major civil and criminal investigations conducted by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the State Attorneys General. Our lawyers have participated in cross-border investigations, including the first conducted by U.S. and Canadian antitrust authorities. We have substantial experience litigating international cartel cases, and have participated in a number of cases that define the limits of the extraterritorial application of the U.S. antitrust laws, including both Statoil, the first appellate decision interpreting the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act, and Empagran, which was decided by the Supreme Court in 2004.
We have assisted in antitrust proceedings in the European Union, including merger and cartel investigations. We have recently been defending financial institutions and insurance companies in various antitrust suits asserting price fixing, bid rigging and boycotts, among other claims. We have been involved in representing a large marine construction company in massive treble damage litigation brought by the world's largest oil companies; a leading record producer in cases involving alleged collusive behavior in the sale of CDs; and paper distributors, an office supplier and vitamins and pharmaceutical product manufacturers in direct and indirect purchaser class actions. We represented a major chemicals producer in a merger case brought by the Department of Justice – one of the rare merger challengers that went to trial and in which the Department of Justice's request for relief was rejected.
Our transactional work consists principally of representation of our clients in evaluating proposed mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, both in advising how to structure transactions to minimize or reduce antitrust concerns and in negotiating with antitrust authorities and in responding to governmental requests for information. Our work ranges from pre-merger notifications to comprehensive and nuanced economic analysis of proposed transactions, including analysis of relevant markets and likely competitive effects.
