Antitrust and competition law has become a force of gravity that impacts virtually all major business plans, transactions, relationships, and market strategies at home and abroad. Antitrust laws establish competition and efficiency as the cornerstones for our domestic economy and, increasingly, markets of countries around the globe. But the pursuit of these fundamentals is often elusive. In today’s economy, market realities are often short-lived. Political, regulatory, technological and supply chain changes constantly disrupt the conventional wisdom about how markets operate.
Like the Constitution, our antitrust and competition laws are built to accommodate and even encourage change. Antitrust statutes speak in broad strokes about promoting competition and efficiencies by prohibiting agreements “in restraint of trade,” and conduct that threatens to “monopolize” any part of commerce. The lucid application of these precepts to a particular market context requires analysis of antitrust court decisions, agency regulations and enforcement actions – along with sound economic principles and intersecting intellectual property and regulatory regimes.
Good outcomes in the face of antitrust challenges require a legal team with genuine antitrust bona fides, industry depth, and a proper economic perspective about how the client’s posture in the marketplace and regulatory environment promote competition. Pierce Atwood brings that plus vigorous advocacy and sound judgment on a cost-effective platform. Our approach combines decades of substantive antitrust, consumer protection and competition experience with vital capabilities in intellectual property licensing and litigation, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, cross-border transactions, securities law, multijurisdictional and international government investigations, and regulatory regimes governing a variety of domestic and international industries. Many Pierce Atwood attorneys have prior government agency and industry experience in agribusiness, construction, financial services, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and emerging technology markets.
Our competition trial attorneys are also recognized leaders in the profession, handling a variety of civil and criminal enforcement, private plaintiff and class action disputes in federal, state and agency venues across the nation and globally. Pre-merger due diligence, HSR and agency merger review, internal investigations, federal and state and international antitrust investigations, trade organization activities, and antitrust compliance audits and advice are also mainstays of Pierce Atwood’s competition practice.