Antitrust and Trade Regulation

Sophisticated problems need real-world solutions. Winston & Strawn lawyers understand business realities and can help you design and implement practical strategies that meet regulatory standards. Our antitrust and trade regulation practice includes civil and criminal litigation, merger reviews and challenges, and day-to-day antitrust counseling. Our experience assisting clients in myriad industries from health care to telecommunications to consumer products to agriculture enables us to quickly grasp the pertinent issues and provide prompt, efficient assistance.

"A practice of real breadth, made up of shrewd and intelligent attorneys with deep antitrust experience."
- Chambers USA, 2011

In the litigation area, we have handled antitrust cases involving claims ranging from market-division and price-fixing to those arising in connection with patent, contract, Lanham Act, and unfair trade practice issues. Historically, our antitrust attorneys have appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court in Monsanto Co. v. Spray-Rite Service Corp., a landmark decision involving the application of vertical price-fixing to dealer relations. More recent cases we have handled include U.S. v. Microsoft Corporation in which we defended the company as co-lead counsel in connection with claims being pursued by nine non-settling states and obtained a ruling upholding the settlement reached by Microsoft and the Department of Justice (DOJ). In another well-known antitrust case, U.S. v. General Electric Company, we successfully defended GE against allegations that it had conspired with its biggest competitor to fix the price of industrial diamonds.

Winston's antitrust attorneys also have litigated three merger challenges in the past several years. We successfully defended North Shore Health System against the DOJ's challenge to North Shore’s merger with Long Island Jewish Medical Center in federal district court in New York, which found that the merger would not lessen competition but would instead return substantial benefits to the community.

In addition, our antitrust attorneys assist clients in securing clearance for mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures from the DOJ, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and state Attorneys General. We also counsel clients on the full range of antitrust issues that may arise under the federal Sherman, Clayton, and the Robinson-Patman Acts in day-to-day business operations and assist clients in structuring proposed transactions to achieve their desired goals while minimizing antitrust risk.