ACC - Signature CLE: Antitrust Enforcement Under the Trump Administration: Hot Topics and Key Trends

When President Trump was elected, there was an assumption that there would be limited federal antitrust enforcement under his administration.  This assumption has turned out to be wildly incorrect.  Federal antitrust enforcers have challenged mega-mergers such as the AT&T/Time Warner merger.  They are actively investigating corporate hiring practices, including “no-poach” agreements among competitors and “non-compete” clauses in franchise agreements.  They are also scrutinizing the data privacy practices and growing market power of large Silicon Valley companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon.

Given this high level of enforcement activity and the fact that President Trump regularly tweets or comments on antitrust matters, in-house lawyers are increasingly being required to stay abreast of hot topics and key trends in order to be able to properly advise their internal clients.  This panel will discuss key takeaways from antitrust enforcement under the first two years of the Trump administration and what corporations can expect during the next two years.  

Topics will include:

• the DOJ’s challenge to the AT&T/Time Warner merger and other key merger investigations;
  
• recent state and federal enforcement actions in the employment area as well as follow-on private litigation;
  
• recent enforcement actions challenging the licensing practices of companies with significant intellectual property portfolios;
  
• ongoing criminal investigations in industries ranging from the financial services to the generic drugs industries; and
  
• best practices that corporations should keep in mind when communicating with shareholders who have an ownership interest in a direct competitor.