Insights

Washington – June 6, 2024: Crowell & Moring earned 78 rankings for 67 lawyers, as well as 41 national and statewide practice area rankings, in the Chambers USA 2024 guide. The rankings are driven by independent interviews of clients and lawyers at peer firms.

Washington – January 11, 2023: Crowell & Moring has published Litigation Forecast 2023: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know for the Coming Year. The 11th-annual Litigation Forecast focuses on trends in litigation that are playing out in specific jurisdictions around the globe. 

Washington – December 22, 2022: Global Competition Review recognized Crowell & Moring’s Antitrust & Competition Group in its “GCR 100 2023” – the leading ranking of the world’s competition policy law and economics practices. This year marks the 23rd edition of the awards and the 16th consecutive year that the Antitrust & Competition Group has been recognized.

The Federal Trade Commission announced its annual updates to the thresholds and filing fees related to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the HSR Act) on Monday. These dollar thresholds are indexed annually based on changes in the U.S. gross national product and the Consumer Price Index.

On July 1, 2023, the European Commission’s revised Guidelines on Horizontal Cooperation Agreements entered into force (see our previous alert for a comprehensive overview of the new rules, including the new horizontal block exemption regulations).

After more than two years of preview and consultation, including thousands of public comments, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission issued the final version of their 2023 Merger Guidelines (“Guidelines”) yesterday, December 18, 2023. As we noted when the draft guidelines were released in July, the final Guidelines both harken back to older, long-standing precedent and provide a framework for how the Agencies apply merger enforcement policy in modern economic markets. The Guidelines hold fast to the Biden administration’s enforcement policy to address harms from what they perceive to be “excessive” corporate consolidation by reinvigorating and enhancing merger enforcement. Yet, the final Guidelines show that the Agencies have responded to at least some of the criticism of the draft version, and may be more likely to align with how courts currently analyze merger challenges.

The Annual Spring Meeting of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law is the world's largest meeting of competition and consumer protection professionals. The Spring Meeting brings together all segments of the global competition and consumer protection community - enforcement officials, private attorneys, in-house corporate counsel, academics, judges, economists, and business people - to share knowledge about all aspects of competition and consumer protection law.

Gain insightful knowledge on key cartel risk and compliance issues. Eminent officials from the European Commission and national competition authorities as well as leading private practitioners and in-house counsel will debate practical challenges to help you develop an effective strategy for your business needs and services.

Please join us online for this half day program that will analyze and assess FTC and DOJ merger enforcement in the past year and then look forward to what implications their policy priorities may have for tech (and beyond). The program, hosted by Professor William E. Kovacic, Director, Competition Law Center, George Washington University Law School, and Professor Andrew I. Gavil, Senior of Counsel, Crowell & Moring, will consist of two panels and a fireside chat. More details are below. 

In response to the digital revolution and the increasing impact technology has on business, Competition Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are stepping up merger control enforcement. They are revising current policies, advocating for more aggressive use of existing rules to their full potential effect, and calling for new laws and regulations where they see the need. What does this mean for companies engaging in transactions in the digital marketplace and other industries? Is it becoming harder to predict if a deal will be subject to merger control? Are some deals more likely to receive enhanced scrutiny than others? And, what are the broader implications for all sectors when Competition Authorities push the boundaries on traditional theories of harm and remedies, and prohibitions become more commonplace?    

What factors have led antitrust enforcers and legislators to express concerns about the state of merger enforcement, particularly in digital markets? Are the horizontal and vertical merger guidelines equipped to handle antitrust issues in today’s economy? How have prior transactions by the big tech companies ignited the next wave of potential merger guidelines revisions, and which specific concerns are likely to be addressed? And what should companies across all industries expect if and when the merger guidelines are updated?