Practice Areas & Industries: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

The antitrust lawyers at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP know that your business operates in the real world, where you have to compete for advantage in the marketplace and seize opportunities when you have the chance.  Antitrust law is all about ensuring competitive balance, and we make the law work for you – not the other way around.  Our attorneys apply decades of business and regulatory experience to antitrust and trade regulation counsel, and help clients in businesses as diverse as healthcare, entertainment, high technology, and basic manufacturing.  We assess competitive risk and develop antitrust compliance strategies that apply to the everyday business decisions you make, focusing on:

• Meeting the requirements of the Clayton, Robinson-Patman, and Sherman federal antitrust acts, as well as California’s Cartwright Act and the unique challenges of the state’s Unfair Competition Law
• Securing Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice approval of mergers and acquisitions, including Hart-Scott-Rodino filings
• Providing comprehensive representation in class action, criminal, business tort, appellate and grand jury litigation and proceedings
• Handling antitrust implications of joint ventures, licensing agreements and strategic alliances, as well as business combinations in such specialized areas as healthcare.

Services Available

Guidance to Avoid Problems
Manatt antitrust attorneys develop a thorough understanding of your business operations so we can identify and prevent actions that violate the law:

• Price fixing and price discrimination
• Collusion with competitors
• Monopolistic conduct
• Restrictive noncompetition agreements
• Tying arrangements

We make sure your managers understand their obligations under the law, and help you create document and record systems that can provide answers to any government inquiry.

Compliance With Federal Law
Federal law gives antitrust regulators the power to issue civil investigative demands, subpoenas, or information requests against your company.  We help you develop a credible response to:

• Sherman Antitrust Act complaints over restraint of trade, trade regulation, and monopolization
• Clayton Antitrust Act requirements governing mergers and acquisitions
• Robinson-Patman Act claims of price discrimination and predatory pricing

We have full capabilities to deal with Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission inquiries and complaints under these laws and to effectively represent you in administrative hearings.

Representation at Trial
With Manatt’s national litigation capabilities, we are strong advocates in defending and prosecuting antitrust lawsuits for our clients.  Our attorneys have handled disputes over pricing, monopolization, cartels, collusion, and other claims in every type of court proceeding:

• Appellate representation
• Business tort litigation
• Class actions
• Criminal antitrust litigation
• Grand jury investigations

The breadth of matters we handle is matched by our record of success at trial, where we have:

• Obtained summary judgments defeating Robinson-Patman and Sherman Act claims
• Won multimillion-dollar verdicts for clients in unlawful monopoly, tying, merger, and patent misuse cases
• Handled numerous cases of alleged antitrust violations in high-technology aftermarkets, reflecting our success at representing one of the parties in an early landmark case

Response to Advertising Complaints
If you face any challenges or disputes under the Lanham Act or other statutes involving your advertising and marketing claims or strategies, Manatt provides an effective defense.  Our attorneys frequently appear on behalf of clients before the courts, the Federal Trade Commission and other federal agencies, state attorneys general, and the advertising industry’s self-regulatory bodies to answer allegations of:

• False advertising
• Unfair competition
• Product disparagement
• Trademark and copyright infringement
• Breach of privacy and publicity rights
• Abusive marketing practices

Clearance of Business Combinations
Many mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures do not raise antitrust problems.  For those that do, Manatt attorneys know how to guide a deal through the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) review process at the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice.  We are skilled at securing early termination of the HSR waiting period and can answer any requests for further information in a way that keeps your timing on track.  We also handle the antitrust implications of licensing arrangements, joint ventures, and strategic alliances, particularly those that involve exclusive dealing or trade secret disclosure problems.

Familiarity With California Challenges
We have particular insight into California’s unique Unfair Competition Law (Business & Professional Code § 17200) and its prohibition of “deceptive” business conduct.  Because we know the ins and outs of almost 70 years of UCL case law and statutory history, we can advise you if litigants allege “unlawful” or “unfair” conduct within the meaning of the antitrust statutes.  California also has its own antitrust law, the Cartwright Act, and we know how it applies to your business conduct.

Advice for Healthcare Providers
We help healthcare professionals properly structure and operate provider contracting arrangements (the alphabet soup of IPAs, JOAs, PHOs, PPOs and many others) that effectively compete in today’s market, without violating antitrust guidelines.  Our attorneys also advise hospitals and medical centers on mergers and acquisitions, making sure they are positioned to avoid investigation or litigation of antitrust claims regarding delivery of healthcare services.

Representative Matters

Experience on Your Side
Manatt antitrust lawyers know the law because they have helped enforce it and shape it.  Members of our team have:

• Enforced federal law as members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division
• Served as counsel to the Federal Trade Commission, the President’s Commission on Organized Crime, and both Congress and the White House
• Advised the California Judicial Council on creating the official antitrust law jury instruction for the state and the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference
• Held leadership positions as Chair of the State Bar of California and Los Angeles County Antitrust and Trade Regulation Law Sections and as Vice Chair of the American Healthcare Association Standing Committee on Antitrust
• Written the leading federal antitrust law handbook and the first compendium of antitrust law jury instructions for any state, as well as many other articles and treatises on antitrust law

We know what the antitrust statutes mean, what the regulators want, and what the best strategies are for achieving your business goals.

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