America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2010: Antitrust

Chambers & Partners has compiled its independent and objective list of America's Leading Lawyers for Business based on comments gathered from thousands of interviews with clients and lawyers from Maine to Hawaii. This guide — which is designed to reflect market opinion — contains a view of the firms and attorneys who are considered leaders in their field.

In Chambers' 2010 review of national legal talent in the area of "Antitrust," our Firm and our lawyers are listed among the best in the country.

Chambers' comments:

Illinois Ranking: Tier 1

The Firm: The Chicago office of this renowned firm serves as the hub of an impressive antitrust practice of national scope. It provides counseling, but is most highly regarded for litigation trial work. Clients include Navistar, Abbott Laboratories and BlueCross BlueShield.

Sources Say: "It's big competition in Illinois."

Key Individuals: "Wonderful lawyer" James Mutchnik handles price fixing and price discrimination litigation and advises clients on M&A and joint ventures. Andrew Langan litigates and counsels on oil and gas-related matters. He recently served as lead counsel to primary client BP in multiple matters, including an antitrust suit involving claims that BP and ExxonMobil had suppressed competition in the production and transport of Alaska natural gas. Daniel Laytin focuses on antitrust, class actions and commercial litigation. He recently represented GM in a massive consolidated class action antitrust conspiracy lawsuit.

Nationwide Ranking: Tier 3

The Firm: This Chicago-based practice also fields teams in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. The group is best known for litigation, working with institutional clients from a range of industries, such as Dow Chemical, GM and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Recent highlights include successfully securing a dismissal of all claims of a nationwide conspiracy brought against BlueCross BlueShield. The practice continues to represent Bain Capital against allegations that it colluded with other private equity firms in take-private transactions.

Sources Say: "Counsel of choice for big-ticket litigation."

Key Individuals: Jim Mutchnik spearheads the team in Illinois, while Tefft Smith and Mark Kovner are central to the practice in Washington, DC.

District of Columbia Ranking: Tier 3

The Firm: Litigation is this group's strong suit. The team has particular prowess in private class actions, though it is also sought out for assistance with investigations and litigation initiated by government agencies. It recently defended Barr Pharmaceuticals in class action litigation as well as in a suit brought by the FTC, in relation to a license and supply agreement with Warner Chilcott. Also notable is its continued representation of Bain Capital in class action litigation founded on allegations of price conspiracy.

Key Individuals: Mark Kovner mainly represents clients in price-fixing, monopolization and unfair competition litigation. Source call him "a strong advocate – there's a lot of fight in him and he does high quality work." He successfully defended Colgate-Palmolive in a class action alleging that it had conspired to fix the prices of personal and household care products. Senior partner Tefft Smith is a veteran trial lawyer with an impressive track record and nearly 40 years of experience in the field. He continues to represent Dow Chemical in the synthetic rubber price-fixing litigation, most recently in class action litigation brought by tire manufacturers. Karen Walker primarily focuses on class action defense. She took the lead on the Barr Pharmaceuticals matter, as well as representing Teva in patent and antitrust litigation.

Reprinted with permission from Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2010 — www.chambersandpartners.com.