Questions re: antitrust law Forum

[bdubs]

Do any current FTC or antitrust attorneys out there have any summer reading suggestions for those interested in antitrust law? Basic economics books, etc? I don't have an UG degree in Econ but I am interested in the subject.

Watch "The Informant"

[hmlee]

Do any current FTC or antitrust attorneys out there have any summer reading suggestions for those interested in antitrust law? Basic economics books, etc? I don't have an UG degree in Econ but I am interested in the subject.

Watch "The Informant"

One of the DOJ prosecutor characters in The Informant was a combination of my two bosses during my summer interning for the DOJ, who actually worked on that case. Nice guys. Also, funny movie.

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone say what exit ops are like for antitrust attorneys other than governnment? I assume there's not a lot of in house antitrust attorneys. Are there antitrust boutiques/how easy is it to transition to small firms? I know most will just be speculating, but even speculation would be helpful.

I think your assumption about in-house is a little wrong. You might need to know stuff besides antitrust, but I'm pretty sure major companies such as Microsoft, Google, and their less sexy equivalents in other industries have someone in-house .

There are antitrust boutiques, primarily on the plaintiff's side. Look up Hausfeld, Constantine Cannon, some jewish guys in New York Cohen Milstein. Just do some googling for plaintiff or consumer side. Oh and can't leave out David Balto.

I don't know about the transition... check out the backgrounds of people at those firms. Also I'm sure I left out at least one important boutique.

[Anonymous User]

Do any current FTC or antitrust attorneys out there have any summer reading suggestions for those interested in antitrust law? Basic economics books, etc? I don't have an UG degree in Econ but I am interested in the subject.

This is going to sound stupid, but roughly 95% of the stuff you need to know about antitrust econ can be learned through Wikipedia and the Antitrust Law in a Nutshell book (both of which are probably free, if you're still a student).

False False False, can't deal with it.

I was like you once, person looking for reading and figuring stuff out in this very niche field. What year are you?

Read Easterbrook, Limits of Antitrust, Tex L. Rev (1984). Read the Microsoft case. Read the Horizontal Merger Guidelines. Read Posner's book. Read Hovenkamp. Read Truth on the Market blog on the regular. Sign up for Antitrust Comp Policy Law Profs blog. I actually have lots of suggestions but am in a hurry. If you're serious about it, reply to this and I'll give you a good list. Muy importante: join the ABA Section of Antitrust Law! It's very active and everyone who matters is involved, it seems. And you get free Antitrust Magazine four times a year, which is glorious!!

[Anonymous User]

Question for antitrust lawyers. I attended Columbia, did 3 different summer associate positions, but eventually decided to accept a fellowship with a major tech company in DC doing antitrust (I liked these topics a lot better than the practice of the firm where I eventually got my offer). I will be an in-house antitrust and government affairs associate for one year with their team making the normal corporate law salary. I am wondering if I can lateral straight over to biglaw afterward, or if I might be better off going to the FTC, DOJ, or clerking first. I would rather get into private practice at a firm doing M&A-supported antitrust work or white collar/compliance work. Thoughts?

[Anonymous User]

False False False, can't deal with it.

I was like you once, person looking for reading and figuring stuff out in this very niche field. What year are you?

Read Easterbrook, Limits of Antitrust, Tex L. Rev (1984). Read the Microsoft case. Read the Horizontal Merger Guidelines. Read Posner's book. Read Hovenkamp. Read Truth on the Market blog on the regular. Sign up for Antitrust Comp Policy Law Profs blog. I actually have lots of suggestions but am in a hurry. If you're serious about it, reply to this and I'll give you a good list. Muy importante: join the ABA Section of Antitrust Law! It's very active and everyone who matters is involved, it seems. And you get free Antitrust Magazine four times a year, which is glorious!!

I am a rising 2L.

Signed up for the ABA Section of Antitrust Law. Will certainly peep those blogs and look into the books... I have read a little bit about U.S. v. Microsoft but not in great detail. I have spoken with several antitrust attorneys in DC and have calls lined up to speak with a few more

Thanks for the advice!

[dw3]

Antitrust associate here.

(1) A background in economics could be helpful, and an interest in economics is definitely helpful, but you don't really need to know much. You'll learn the relevant concepts in your law school antitrust course. As another poster mentioned, the bulk of the economic analysis is done by economists. As a lawyer, you'll need to be able to converse with them and use their findings but, most likely, you'll have been working with the subject matter for a few years before you are responsible for that.

(2) There is a good amount of antitrust work in NYC too. Differences in types of cases and prominence of practice have more to do with firm (or the specific partners bringing in work) than city (as between DC/NYC). Some firms will also have a lot of cross-office work, so the types of cases don't really differ. Most firms don't have separate antitrust groups as far as associate assignments are concerned, though. That is, usually antitrust work is part of a general litigation group, so getting in with the partners who do antitrust work will be on you. The only firms I can think of in NYC with prominent antitrust practices and where associates are assigned to do antitrust work exclusively are Skadden, Wilson Sonsini, and possibly White & Case. So, if you decide you are seriously interested in antitrust, it's worth asking about how work is assigned when you are interviewing for SA positions, so that you can either get into an antitrust-only group or make efforts early on to get to know a partner who does a lot of antitrust work. Outside of DC and NYC (in the U.S.), antitrust work is less common. There are some CA firms that do a decent amount too.

(3) This depends on whether you do litigation or transactional antitrust work. At some firms (e.g. where antitrust is a standalone group), you may be able to do both. On the litigation side, it can be a mix of private litigation and government investigations. Both involve a lot of document review for junior associates (mostly looking for communications with competitors, business documents indicating how decisions were made and for what reasons, etc). Antitrust litigation can be particularly doc review heavy because, especially with government investigations, the scope of document requests can be very broad with limited ability to negotiate them. Otherwise, the tasks are similar to any other litigation work - legal research, etc. On the deal side, part of what junior associates do is help to assess the industry/competitive effects of the deal early on. This usually entails going through publicly available information (and possibly data rooms) to collect market information. As far as the approval stage, junior associates help write white papers to present the case for antitrust approval (there may also be affidavits and depositions involved), help prepare HSR filings, etc. For a first year, these things basically involve more doc review, but with a narrower scope.

(4) There can be overlap between IP and antitrust issues but they aren't usually dealt with in depth by the same people. I do think that a basic IP class in law school is helpful. I have worked on several cases that rested heavily on IP issues (most often patent issues) and it helps to understand the basics. The extent to which tasks are handled by antitrust counsel, IP counsel, or both depends a lot on each client's preferences and relationship with counsel. Regardless, the antitrust issues usually depend on the IP arguments, so it's difficult to avoid working with the IP issues somewhat. For example, as a junior, you may end up looking through documents containing patent applications and related communications, with the task of finding evidence that a party did or did not think a patent was valid. You learn as you go along, and it's not like a law school IP class is going to teach you how to understand whatever scientific content is at issue, but knowing the basics of IP processes/standards is a good start.

Cleary Gottlieb currently has the #1 antitrust/competition practice (at least by Vault). You should look into alot of what they do especially through their DC office.

[Anonymous User]

Cleary Gottlieb currently has the #1 antitrust/competition practice (at least by Vault). You should look into alot of what they do especially through their DC office.

Will do... I guess I should also target NYC a bit more... Not sure if I could even land an interview with CGSH

[Anonymous User]

Cleary Gottlieb currently has the #1 antitrust/competition practice (at least by Vault). You should look into alot of what they do especially through their DC office.

Will do... I guess I should also target NYC a bit more... Not sure if I could even land an interview with CGSH

If you're serious about choosing a firm with a dedication to antitrust, you should look at the rankings by Global Competition Review since they are much more comprehensive than Vault or Chambers. Global rankings are becoming more important as many of the largest antitrust projects, such as mega mergers and wide-scale cartel investigations, often involve jurisdictions outside the US. (EU, Japan, Korea, China, Brazil, Australia, and potentially others)

http://globalcompetitionreview.com/gcr100/

Keep in mind that most of the magic circle offices in the US don't stack up to their London and continental reputations though.

The comment about antitrust practices in NYC left off a few really important firms. Most prominent is probably Simpson Thacher but also DPW is pretty strong. DC is still the center of antitrust work for most firms though.

I will second that Cleary DC is excellent in antitrust (I know from experience), but Arnold & Porter DC is probably equivalent or a close second as far as reputation goes.

[Arbiter213]

Cleary Gottlieb currently has the #1 antitrust/competition practice (at least by Vault). You should look into alot of what they do especially through their DC office.

Will do... I guess I should also target NYC a bit more... Not sure if I could even land an interview with CGSH

Cleary's antitrust practice runs out of DC. Not that that's less selective.