John Taladay

"A truly fine lawyer; he's excellent."

Chambers USA 2022

John M. Taladay is a highly esteemed antitrust and competition lawyer with years of experience leading complex antitrust merger, litigation, and cartel investigation matters for clients around the globe. John serves as Chair of the global antitrust practice of Baker Botts, which is ranked top ten among the Global Competition Review (GCR) Elite competition practices in the world. 

He has been recognized as one of the leading competition lawyers in the United States. Chambers USA has uniquely recognized him in every ranked antitrust category including Antitrust/Competition, Antitrust/Litigation and Antitrust/Cartels, one of very few ever to have achieved this distinction.  The publication notes that “He is equally at home guiding clients through sophisticated merger review proceedings as he is managing cartel and anticompetitive behavior investigations and litigation.” John has been cited as one of the 10 foremost competition “Thought Leaders” in the U.S. by Who’s Who Legal, while also being recognized by clients for being “pragmatic” and giving “sound advice that is very attuned to the client's needs."  John also is recognized as among the country’s top competition lawyers by Chambers Global, Legal 500, Expert Guides “Best of the Best,” Super Lawyers and other publications.  

John’s merger work includes extensive experience in gaining merger clearances, appearing frequently before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the DOJ Antitrust Division, the European Commission and numerous other international agencies. He has managed numerous, complex, multi-jurisdictional deals to successful conclusion. Clients note that "John is reliable and insightful - his ability to balance academic conceptual legal arguments with the real-world business implications was crucial." He has particular industry expertise in the technology, media, consumer products, software and pharmaceuticals sectors, as well traditional industries including automotive, airline, metals, agriculture, food, chemicals and electronics. He has been invited to speak as an expert on merger review by competition enforcers, including the OECD Competition Committee and the International Competition Network Mergers Working Group. As noted in Chambers USA 2018, John is "incredibly smart and an authoritative voice when it comes to antitrust. He is very effective before regulators and very technical, but able to the distill the content in an understandable way." 

In antitrust litigation matters, he has achieved winning results as lead counsel to large corporations in numerous class action and private party cases involving all aspects of competition law, including allegations of price fixing, bid rigging, market allocation and unfair trade practices. He is named as one of 18 “Leading Lawyers” in Antitrust Civil Litigation Defense by Legal 500 (2022). Lawdragon named John as one of the 500 Leading Litigators in America. Sources remark that “He is a fierce advocate on behalf of the client and I trust him to deliver results on important litigation.” 

Chambers USA 2022. He has served as lead counsel to key defendants in many of the largest multidistrict class actions filed over the past 20 years, including In Re Generic Pharmaceutical Price Fixing, In Re Optical Disc Drive Price Fixing, In Re Air Cargo Price Fixing, In Re Cathode Ray Tube Price Fixing and others. 

John has also led the defense of U.S. and foreign companies, and individuals, in dozens of major cartel matters. These include DOJ and grand jury investigations into criminal allegations of price fixing, bid‐rigging, market allocation, “no-poach” and wage fixing, and related offenses. He has navigated corporate clients through a range of cartel representation strategies from steadfast defense to leniency application to non‐prosecution or deferred prosecution treatment. His litigation work includes acting as lead counsel in numerous civil antitrust class action and other litigation matters involving nearly all aspects of the antitrust laws. Legal 500 has named him as one of the 15 “Leading Lawyers” in Cartel Defense in the United States. He has written extensively on the issues of cartel defense and leniency and issues relating to “no poach” and wage fixing investigations. 

John’s leadership in international competition matters and policy development spans more than two decades. He serves as Chair of the Business at OECD (BIAC) Competition Committee to the OECD. He is the immediate past Chair of the United States Council for International Business Competition Committee. He has been appointed as a Non‐Governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network for more than 15 years. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Global Private Litigation Committee of the ABA Antitrust Law Section and as a member of the ICC Commission on Competition. 

Lead counsel to large domestic and international companies in U.S. and Global merger, cartel, litigation and dominance matters, including all of the following:

• The International Air Transport Association (IATA) in connection with its complaint to the European Commission relating to aftermarket sales and repairs.
• comScore’s acquisition of Rentrak in online, television and cross-media measurement.
• Large technology company in relation to U.S. and international investigations relating to standards essential patents (SEPs).
• Akamai Technology's acquisition of Prolexic in DDoS and cloud security solutions.
• GKN's acquisition of Volvo Aerospace, NV.
• A major Japanese auto parts manufacturing company in DOJ Grand Jury investigation and follow-on class action litigation.
• In re Air Cargo Antitrust Litigation - Lead counsel to South African Airways in civil class actions and DOJ investigation.
• In re Optical Disk Drive (ODD) Antitrust Litigation - Lead counsel representing PLDS in all aspects of DOJ investigation and related civil class actions.
• In re Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation - Lead counsel to Philips Electronics in all aspects of DOJ investigation and related civil class actions.
• Represented a major U.S. pharmaceutical company before the FTC in connection with a merger opposition and divestiture initiative.
• Akamai Technology's acquisition of Contendo.
• GKN's acquisition of a large automotive drive train parts company.
• Inco Ltd. - including Inco’s DOJ Approval for the Acquisition of Falconbridge, Ltd. and subsequent sale to CVRD. Nickel and cobalt mining & refining.
• Plumbing Cartel Investigation - Lead counsel in DOJ and EC cartel investigation into plumbing products.

The Legal 500 U.S., 2015-2017, 2021 & 2022

Chambers USA, Antitrust, 2005-2022

Recognized as a Washington D.C. Super Lawyer, 2005-2018

Listed in Who's Who Legal: Competition, 2016 & 2017

Expert Guide to the Leading Competition Lawyers, 2004