• Hon. Daniel M. Friedman
  Ct App Fed Cir

Charles (Rick) Rule, the head of the firm's Antitrust Group, focuses his practice on providing U.S. and international antitrust advice to major corporations in connection with "bet your company" matters, particularly high-profile mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures. He also represents corporate clients in connection with civil and grand jury investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the European Commission and in private and governmental litigation both at the trial and appellate levels.

Among the clients he has represented are Microsoft Corporation; ExxonMobil; US Airways Inc.; Celanese Corporation; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Goldman, Sachs & Co.; Morgan Stanley;  Financial Security Assurance; the National Basketball Association; Bacardi & Company Ltd.; Eli Lilly & Company, and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.  Rick was a key member of the team that negotiated on behalf of Microsoft  a conclusion to the historic antitrust lawsuit that the Justice Department and a number of states pursued against the company. He also was involved in the antitrust clearance of some of the highest-profile mergers in recent years, including advising NYNEX in its merger with Bell Atlantic (now known as Verizon Communications), serving as Exxon Corporation's lead counsel in its successful merger with Mobil Oil Corporation (now known as Exxon Mobil Corporation), representing MGM-Mirage in its acquisition of Mandalay Bay, and representing Delta and Pine Land in its acquisition by Monsanto. 

Rick also has handled major civil and criminal litigation and argued numerous times in court on behalf of clients such as Microsoft, US Airways, a television network and its affiliates, and the Pasha Group. While in government, he argued on behalf of the United States in several appeals and before the U.S. Supreme Court in Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574 (1986).

He began his career as William Baxter's special assistant in the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. He served as acting head of the Division for part of 1985 and was permanently appointed to the position in late 1986, becoming the youngest person to this day to be confirmed as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division.  In 1988, in recognition of his exemplary performance, he received the Edmund J. Randolph Award from the Justice Department.  Following his departure from the Justice Department in 1989, Rick was a partner and head of the antitrust practice at a leading Washington, D.C. law firm, and subsequently became the head of the global antitrust practice of another major New York firm. 

Rick is a frequent author and lecturer on antitrust and regulatory topics, and he has participated in numerous conferences, workshops, and programs on issues of merger enforcement and trade regulation.  He is recognized as one of the world's leading antitrust lawyers and is named in Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers For Business (2006 edition), The Legal Times, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the East, The Washingtonian and Who's Who in American Law.

Rick also has served as a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law at American University's Washington College of Law. He was the inaugural chair of the Corporations, Securities and Antitrust Practice Group of the Federalist Society and served as Chair of the Economics Committee of the American Bar Association's Antitrust Section. He is a member of the advisory board of BNA's Antitrust & Trade Regulation Report, the Washington Legal Foundation, and the Landmark Legal Foundation. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Children's Law Center and on the Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago Law School.

Rick received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Vanderbilt University. Following law school, he served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Daniel M. Friedman of the former U.S. Court of Claims (now the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit). He is admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia.

Publications:

• "Transparent Limits," The Daily Deal, April 19, 2001
• "A New Broom? The FTC's Obsession with 'Clean Sweeps' and Other Divestiture Policies May Finally Be Headed for the Dustbin," The Daily Deal, March 13, 2001
• "B2B or Collusion? That Is the Question Antitrust Enforcers Will Ask of Business-to-Business Sites," Legal Times, April 3, 2000 (co-author)
• "Antitrust Liability," Chapter 10, Healthcare Corporate Law: Financial and Liability Aspects of Healthcare Organizations, Mark Hall, ed.; Little, Brown, 1994; updated 1999 (co-author with David L. Meyer)
• "The Case Against the Case Against Microsoft: Why the Justice Department Is Barking Up the Wrong Operating System," Slate, November 12, 1997
• "The FTC Is Strangling Business Mergers," The Washington Times, May 19, 1997
• "What Case Against Microsoft?" The Wall Street Journal, February 22, 1995
• "Keep Baseball Exempt from Antitrust Laws," The Wall Street Journal, August 24, 1994
• "Health Care Collaboration Does Not Require Substantive Antitrust Reform," 29 Wake Forest Law Review 169, 1994 (co-author with David L. Meyer)
• "Back to the Dark Ages of Antitrust," The Wall Street Journal, June 17, 1992
• "A New and Unimproved Antitrust Policy," Legal Times, March 9, 1992
• "NAFTA and Antitrust Policy: Competition and Consumer Welfare Issues," The North American Free Trade Agreement: Issues, Options, Implications. Essays by Practicing Lawyers on Legal and Policy Issue Raised by the North American Free Trade Agreement, ABA, February 1992 (co author with Ellen K. Snyder)
• "An Antitrust Enforcement Policy to Maximize the Economic Wealth of All Consumers," 33 Antitrust Bulletin 677, 1988, reprinted in The Political Economy of the Sherman Act-the First One Hundred Years, 1991, Thomas Sullivan, ed. (co-author with David L. Meyer)
• "Patent-Antitrust Policy: Looking Back and Ahead," 59 Antitrust Law Journal 729, 1991
• "Introductory Note to EC-US Agreement on the Application of Their Competition Laws," 1487 International Legal Materials 30, 1991
• "Justice Brennan as Advocate of the 'Chicago School': Making the World Safe for Maximum Resale Price Maintenance," Legal Backgrounder, Washington Legal Foundation, June 8, 1990
• "Changes in Antitrust Enforcement Policy Against Mergers: Rhetoric or Reality?" Legal Backgrounder, Washington Legal Foundation, February 2, 1990
• "Toward a Merger Policy that Maximizes Consumer Welfare: Enforcement by Careful Analysis, Not by the Numbers," 35 Antitrust Bulletin 251, 1990 (co-author with David L. Meyer)
• "U.S. Justice Department Antitrust Enforcement Guidelines for International Operations," reprinted in the (1989) Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Fordham Corporate Law Institute on North American and Common Market Antitrust and Trade Laws, Barry E. Hawk, ed., 1990
• "Deregulation of U.S. Airlines and the Continuing Role of the Antitrust Laws," EEC Air Transport Policy and Regulation, and Their Implications for North America, P. Haanapel, G. Petsikas, R. Rosales, J. Thaker, eds., 1989
• "The Internationalization of Antitrust," 58 Antitrust Law Journal 377, 1989
• "Claims of Predation in a Competitive Marketplace: When Is an Antitrust Response Appropriate?" 57 Antitrust Law Journal 421, 1988, reprinted in [1985-1997 Transfer Binder] Trade Reg. Rep., (CCH) 50,014
• "Government Enforcement: Complying with Government Requests for Information," Chapter 4, 1 Antitrust Counseling and Litigation Techniques J. Von Kalinowski, ed., 1988 (co-author with Claudia Dulmage)
• "The Antitrust Implications of International Licensing: After the Nine No Nos," 4 Trade Reg. Rep, Commerce Clearing House, 1986