Cadwalader's antitrust leaders are hailed as "incredibly accomplished and bright" and provide "U.S. and international antitrust advice to major corporations on bet-the-company matters, particularly high-profile M&A and joint ventures"
- Chambers USA

Cadwalader's Antitrust Group consists of market-leading practitioners who represent some of the world's most prominent corporations regarding the full range of antitrust matters. Our attorneys have significant expertise with both domestic and international antitrust issues, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, civil antitrust investigations, antitrust grand jury matters, and public and private litigation (both trial and appellate). They regularly appear before the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the European Commission, as well as trial and appellate courts throughout the country.

The Antitrust Group includes numerous high-level former government officials, including Charles F. (Rick) Rule, a former Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, a former Chief of the National Criminal Antitrust Enforcement Section of the Antitrust Division, and former merger enforcement attorneys from the FTC.

Cadwalader's antitrust practitioners have played an integral role in some of the most complex, significant, and notable antitrust matters of the past 25 years. Our clients span a continuum of Fortune 100 companies to venture-capital-backed start-ups in diverse industries, including software, surface and air transportation, entertainment, food and beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, energy, insurance, and retail. They work closely with Cadwalader's leading corporate and litigation teams, offering an essential link between antitrust and the major markets driving today's strategic business transactions.

Mergers & Acquisitions, Joint Ventures and other Strategic Alliances

Our antitrust attorneys have represented some of the world's largest companies as buyers and sellers, as well as numerous interested and concerned parties, in connection with complex mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures. Our lawyers have been involved with some of the most significant mergers of the last fifteen years. Attorneys from our Antitrust Group regularly appear before the DOJ, FTC, and foreign competition authorities and have handled scores of pre-merger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. They also regularly assist clients in responding to "second requests," subpoenas, and civil investigative demands in connection with merger investigations. Currently the firm is representing Microsoft Corporation in its search advertising agreement with Yahoo! Inc. and in the $530 million sale of Microsoft's online advertising agency to Publicis Groupe, as well as representing US Airways in its slot swap agreement with Delta Air Lines and Celanese Corporation in the $173 million sale of its polyvinyl alcohol business to Sekisui Chemical Company.

Litigation and Counseling

The Antitrust Group also advises clients and serves as counsel in connection with some of the most notable and complex antitrust issues, including the landmark antitrust case, U.S. v. Microsoft. With expertise in the full range of antitrust matters, including areas as diverse as monopolization, price-fixing, tying, group boycotts, exclusive dealing, resale price maintenance, and price discrimination, our antitrust litigators regularly appear before trial and appellate courts throughout the country, as well as before the U.S. Supreme Court. They have argued complex civil and criminal antitrust cases, including major treble-damage actions, nationwide class actions, consolidated multidistrict litigation, and lawsuits initiated by the U.S. antitrust enforcement agencies and state attorneys general.

In the last year alone, the group has been either lead counsel or acted in a leading role in antitrust class action litigation in the Oriented Strand Board ("OSB"), municipal derivatives, steel, prime brokerage and auction-rate securities industries. In addition, our lawyers recently have represented companies in (antitrust and non-antitrust) class actions filed against a wide range of industries, including: credit cards, financial services, pharmaceuticals, retail grocery, telecommunications, and air cargo, and our attorneys have significant experience working with economists and other experts and presenting complex financial and economic testimony to courts, regulators, and juries.

In addition to our in-court experience, our leading practitioners are frequently called on to assist clients in avoiding costly litigation. Our attorneys focus on formulating practical and creative solutions that are designed to assist our clients in achieving their business objectives, while at the same time minimizing litigation risk. In addition to dispute resolution, our Antitrust Group regularly assists clients in developing and administering antitrust compliance programs, including compliance with existing antitrust judgments and decrees.

Grand Jury Investigations

Cadwalader also offers world-class experience in antitrust grand jury investigations and in advising foreign and domestic clients under criminal investigation by the DOJ. Our criminal antitrust practice team is led by a former Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division and a former Chief of the National Criminal Enforcement Section of the Antitrust Division. We have represented both corporations and individuals in numerous investigations involving allegations of price-fixing, market allocation, bid-rigging, and other criminal conduct on a national or global scale. Our group is uniquely qualified to advise clients on current criminal enforcement and the most effective strategies in protecting the client's interests during the investigation and in anticipation of possible private treble-damage claims.

Recent Corporate Matters:

• Celanese Corporation in connection with the sale of its polyvinyl alcohol business to Sekisui Chemical Company for $173 million in 2009.
• US Airways in its 2009 agreement with Delta Air Lines to swap slots at New York LaGuardia and Reagan National airports.
• Microsoft Corporation in connection with its 2009 partnership agreement with Yahoo! Inc. under which Microsoft's new Bing search engine would run on multiple Yahoo! Sites, and Yahoo! would handle sales of premium search advertising for both companies.
• Microsoft Corporation in connection with the sale of its online advertising agency Razorfish to Publicis Groupe for $530 million and Microsoft's 5-year strategic alliance agreement with Publicis Groupe.
• Microsoft Corporation as lead antitrust counsel in a number of recent transactions, including Microsoft's $44.6 billion proposed acquisition of Yahoo! Inc. in 2008.
• Microsoft Corporation as legal and regulatory counsel in its acquisition of aQuantive Inc. (digital marketing service and technology) for $6 billion in August 2007.
• Microsoft Corporation in its tender offer for FAST Search and Transfer (a Norwegian enterprise search software company) completed in April 2008 for $1.2 billion.
• Microsoft Corporation in its $500 million acquisition of Danger, Inc. (a Java mobile Internet platform provider) in April 2008.
• Microsoft Corporation in its acquisition of Greenfield Online Inc. (which owns a leading European shopping and price comparison website) for $486 million.
• Pfizer in its acquisition of Wyeth in a $68 billion cash and stock transaction that creates one of the world's most diversified companies in the global health care industry.
• Monsanto's acquisition of Delta and Pine Land Company where antitrust merger clearance was achieved via consent decree following an investigation by the Antitrust Division of the DOJ, which sought to challenge the same transaction in the late 1990s.
• Celanese Corporation in connection with various acquisitions and divestitures.
• Exxon Corporation in its successful merger with Mobil Oil Corporation.
• US Airways in its merger with America West Airways.
• MGM Mirage in its acquisition of Mandalay Resort Group.
• US Airways in its unsuccessful efforts to acquire Delta out of bankruptcy.
• Northrop Grumman in its acquisition of Newport News.

Recent Litigation Matters:

• Defending a major steel manufacturer in antitrust class action alleging an industry-wide conspiracy to restrict output of steel.
• Representing TradeComet.com LLC in an antitrust action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Google, alleging that Google, in an effort to thwart TradeComet.com's subsidiary, SourceTool.com, has blocked search traffic by instituting large price increases.
• Representing the Fair Isaac Corporation as lead antitrust counsel in an action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota against the three national credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union, and their joint venture VantageScore.
• Defending Financial Security Assurance, Inc. and Financial Security Assurance Holdings, Ltd. in multidistrict class action litigation alleging antitrust violations in the municipal derivatives industry.
• Defending Morgan Stanley in antitrust class action relating to auction rate securities.
• Representing Kentucky Speedway in its appeal of the dismissal of its antitrust lawsuit claiming NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. conspired to monopolize and restrain trade in auto racing at the premier racing circuit level.
• Representing Bank of America and Robertson Stephens in cases alleging that major underwriters fixed the underwriting discount on IPOs.

Representative clients include:

• AEA Investor Group
• Bacardi
• Bank of America
• Catalyst Paper Corporation
• Celanese Corporation
• De Beers
• Delta and Pine Land Company
• Exxon Mobil Corporation
• Fair Isaac Corporation
• Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd.
• Fournier Enterprises
• The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Kentucky Speedway
• Meijer
• Monsanto Corporation
• Morgan Stanley
• Microsoft Corporation
• Northrop Grumman Corporation
• Nucor Corporation
• The Pasha Group
• Pfizer Inc.
• Proctor & Gamble Company
• Turkish Airways
• US Airways Inc.
• Wakefern