Antitrust/Competition

Global businesses feel the growing impact of new competition laws
and more sophisticated competition law enforcement around the world.
Regardless of whether our clients’ critical competition issues concern
developed or emerging jurisdictions — or several jurisdictions at once —Skadden provides timely, seamless assistance with their competition lawchallenges. Our Antitrust/Competition Group possesses the proven ability
to pilot the most sophisticated international competition investigations,merger reviews and litigations through the complexities of this new andshifting framework. Given that today’s competition law enforcers increasingly coordinate, clients should expect the same from their counsel.

Our attorneys have been at the forefront of emerging trends anddevelopments in the antitrust and competition arena. In addition tobeing recognized as a top-tier firm for antitrust and competition byChambers Europe, Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Benchmark
Litigation, Best Lawyers Best Law Firms, The Legal 500: Asia
Pacific, The Legal 500: UK and The Legal 500: United States, Skadden and its practitioners were:- Named 2024 Chambers USA Antitrust Firm of the Year and afinalist for the recognition in 2023.
- Named Best International Law Firm: Competition and Antitrust atthe China Business Law Awards 2023.
- Ranked among Global Competition Review’s Global Elite in theGCR 100.
- Named to The BTI Consulting Group’s 2023 Feared Opponents
list, its inaugural ranking of the three elite litigation practices top
legal decision-makers do not want to encounter as opponents.
- Named a finalist in the General Litigation category of the Litigation Department of the Year competition at the New York Law
Journal’s 2024, 2023 and 2022 New York Legal Awards.
Our accomplishments on behalf of clients across industries include:- Obtaining timely clearance from antitrust merger control agencies

around the globe, including in the U.S., the EU, the U.K., Japan,China, Australia, Brazil and South Africa, for highly complex
mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures.
- The successful defense of major clients in treble-damage U.S.
class action litigation, monopolization claims and other government and private U.S. civil disputes.
- Guiding companies through U.S. grand jury investigations andEU and EU Member State administrative investigations and court
procedures for claims including merger litigation, cartel, price-fixing, excessive pricing, dominance, parallel trade, geoblocking andvertical restraints issues.
- Advising clients in connection with Federal Trade Commission(FTC) investigations and administrative proceedings.
- Coordinating strategies in leniency applications and cartel investigations in parallel actions by authorities around the world.
- Successfully completing commitment proceedings, avoiding any
finding of antitrust infringement, and successful completing informal engagement with U.S., EU and EU Member State antitrust
agencies, avoiding formal allegations being raised and leading to
the closure of infringement proceedings.
- Establishing and maintaining global antitrust complianceprograms, including audits, dawn raid training, in-house counsel
workshops and in-person and online compliance training.

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Our Antitrust/Competition Group draws on the resources of Skadden’sworldwide platform, which includes focused, integrated services in
global mergers and acquisitions, government enforcement and whitecollar criminal investigations and litigation, trial-level and appellate
litigation, and international arbitration. In the U.S., Skadden lawyers
assist clients in hearings before the U.S. Congress and federal regulatory agencies, including those in health care, energy, transportation andcommunications as well as the Department of Defense. In the EU, ourlawyers have capabilities in U.K., German and French competition laws.
Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures
Global Scope of Services

Skadden antitrust and competition attorneys plan and execute
regulatory filings for mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures injurisdictions around the globe by marshalling the resources of ourworldwide network of offices and working closely with experienced local counsel. This well-developed practice is fundamental
to our successful completion of the most complex cross-bordertransactions (including non-solicited acquisitions). When litigation
connected to mergers and other transactions becomes unavoidable,
Skadden’s Antitrust/Competition Group advises on disputes globallyand in the U.S., managing cases before the federal courts and at theFTC, as well as in the EU General Court and Court of Justice.
Our services include:- Coordinating closely and continuously with clients and the M&Ateam to ensure that obtaining antitrust approvals is a primaryobjective of the overall transaction strategy.
- Advising clients regarding the potential antitrust risks of proposedbusiness combinations.
- Helping clients structure transactions and draft transaction documents that address those risks.
- Obtaining timely antitrust approval from the Antitrust Divisionof the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), FTC, the EuropeanCommission, national authorities of the EU Member States, theMinistry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China andother jurisdictions worldwide.
In the U.S., we handle all types of business combination matters
before the DOJ, the FTC and U.S. state attorneys general, including:- Advising clients with respect to the requirements of and compliancewith the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.
- Working proactively to minimize the time required for any investigation by the FTC, the DOJ or state attorneys general.
- Managing responses to DOJ and FTC requests for additional
information, facilitating client compliance quickly, completely andcost effectively.

In the EU, the assistance we provide to clients in notifications to theEuropean Commission includes:- Advising clients on strategic issues in obtaining European
Commission approval for all types of transaction structures,consistent with the transactions’ timing demands.
- Preparing the Form CO as efficiently as possible, in order tominimize the information-gathering burden for clients.
- Obtaining approval consistent with client expectations as totiming and result.
Skadden also has an extensive practice and proven track recordof successfully navigating the most complex, in-depth Phase IIproceedings.
In all transactions, we coordinate global notification and approvalrequirements, working with local Skadden offices and a global
network of external counsel, selected exclusively for their antitrust merger control experience and capabilities in their homejurisdictions. Subject to the clients’ preferences, we take a highly
centralized approach to rest-of-world notifications, minimizing theinformation-gathering burden on the client and avoiding redundantdata requests and inconsistent use of antitrust merits arguments.
We also assist with the antitrust considerations applicable to due
diligence review (information exchanges) and planning for preand post-closing integration of the combined companies’ globaloperations. Our advice regarding potential transaction structures isdesigned to minimize the demands and substantive risks of competition and foreign investment notifications.
In addition to mergers and acquisitions, we counsel clients regarding the unique challenges presented by the application of global
antitrust and competition laws to potential joint ventures, minority
investments and other strategic collaborations.
Related Regulatory Matters

A wide variety of businesses retain Skadden in connection withcompetition issues that arise in the context of regulatory matters. We
handle the antitrust aspects of rulemaking proceedings and mergers
and acquisitions that fall within the jurisdiction of agencies such as
the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve
Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Communications Commission,
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and state insurance
departments. In the EU, we regularly counsel clients on a variety ofissues, including state aid and public procurement.

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Litigation/Controversy

Skadden has an extensive practice defending clients in privatelitigation, as well as those accused of criminal violations of antitrustand competition laws. Attorneys across offices coordinate closely on
multijurisdictional investigations and representing clients in all phasesof grand jury matters, as well as in trials, sentencings and appeals.
We have extensive counseling, litigation and jury trial experiencein a broad variety of civil and criminal disputes, including trebledamage class action litigation, monopolization claims, price-fixing
allegations, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act(RICO) claims and other matters.
A significant part of Skadden’s U.S. antitrust litigation experience
includes a dedicated sports law practice. Our attorneys have served
as lead trial counsel to a number of sports leagues, including theNational Football League, the National Basketball Association, theNational Hockey League, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the PGA Tour and the Arena Football League, in a variety oflitigations and dispute resolutions involving antitrust claims.
In the EU, a significant part of Skadden’s antitrust litigation experience includes proceedings before the European General Court
against European Commission findings of antitrust infringements.
We have represented companies in administrative proceedings
before the commission and in the defense against civil claims arising from these findings.
Government Investigations

We routinely advise clients on matters involving investigations
before various government agencies. In the EU, we advise clientson Article 101 and Article 102 issues and defend clients against
increasingly vigorous antitrust enforcement actions brought by theEuropean Commission and, if necessary, in appeals of European
Commission decisions concerning these issues to the Europeancourts. We also assist clients with investigations by the DOJ andFTC into alleged violations of the Sherman and Clayton antitrust
acts and Section 5 of the FTC Act.

Parallel investigations by authorities in diverse jurisdictions suchas the U.S., Canada, the EU, South Africa, South Korea, Japan andAustralia require carefully conceived global strategies to addressoften important differences in antitrust procedural requirements andpolicy priorities, including:- Requirements for leniency applications.
- Document production, confidentiality and privilege.
- Jurisdictions with and without criminal sanctions for cartel behavior.
- Third-party access to evidence produced in other jurisdictions,both in litigation and administrative proceedings.
Counseling

Skadden’s antitrust practice also includes counseling and regulatory
advice in the U.S. and EU on matters including review of distributionagreements, intellectual property licenses (e.g., patents, know-how,trademarks and copyrights) and other strategic arrangements. We
also help clients design, implement and monitor global antitrust audit
and compliance programs. Our services in this area include preparing
the program; educating client personnel via in-person and interactive teleconference presentations; and conducting audits (surprise orannounced) in consultation with clients’ internal counsel.
Thought Leadership

Our antitrust attorneys have authored hundreds of articles andpublications on competition issues, including what is considered theleading treatise on HSR law, “Acquisitions Under the Hart-ScottRodino Antitrust Improvements Act, Third Edition”; the American
Bar Association’s Premerger Notification Practice Manual; regularcolumns for the New York Law Journal; and frequent articles for theAntitrust Law Journal, the European Competition Law Review and
the Global Competition Litigation Review. We often lecture before
the Practising Law Institute, the College of Europe and other professional organizations, and our group hosts leadership seminars on
developments in global competition law.

In the context of growing coordination between global antitrust
authorities in the field of cartel investigations, Skadden has built a
sophisticated practice assisting clients in building integrated strategies to face such investigations.

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