Antitrust and Competition Law

"wonderful, hard working, responsive, smart, prudent. Fantastic team."

The Legal 500 U.S. 2022

In a time of increased global business activity, virtually every significant commercial transaction, business strategy and marketplace activity in some way implicates antitrust and competition laws in the United States, Europe or other jurisdictions. Our highly-ranked group of antitrust and competition lawyers regularly handles the highest profile, "bet the company" matters such as Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH's $12.6 billion business swap with Sanofi, Dresser-Rand's $7.6 billion merger with Siemens and MeadWestvaco's $16 billion merger with RockTenn.

Our antitrust lawyers represent many of the world's leading companies in mergers and acquisitions, complex civil antitrust litigation, international cartel matters and other investigations and proceedings by U.S., European and other international antitrust enforcement agencies. We represent clients in a wide range of industries, including life sciences, technology, telecommunications, media, oilfield services, mining and mining equipment, metals, industrial equipment, paper, pipe, chemical, energy, grocery products, agricultural products and health care. Our lawyers have advocated clients’ interests before the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, the Federal Trade Commission, State Attorneys General, the European Commission and numerous Member States, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (MOFCOM), the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service and a number of other U.S. and international administrative and regulatory agencies.

Our competition lawyers have extensive trial experience in highly complex cases, often combining forces with other Baker Botts lawyers in such areas as intellectual property, corporate, tax and finance, energy, environmental and appellate law. Baker Botts antitrust lawyers handle litigation on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts throughout the United States, and have litigated merger and non-merger cases against the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice. We represent companies and individuals in civil and criminal investigations and adversary proceedings involving the entire spectrum of antitrust and competition issues. Our antitrust litigation docket includes grand jury investigations, class actions, parallel litigation in state and federal courts, multi-district litigation, preliminary injunction hearings and other complex proceedings.

Finally, we have a robust counseling practice and work to help clients anticipate and avoid antitrust problems in mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures; distribution and franchise arrangements; standards setting; intellectual property acquisition and licensing; product and service pricing; advertising; trade association activity; and relationships with customers, competitors and employees.