Antitrust Law

[abdul T]

Hello @George Maxwell,
Would categorise Antitrust Law as separate area of law or its a part of corporate Law?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello @George Maxwell,
Would categorise Antitrust Law as separate area of law or its a part of corporate Law?

It is often considered a separate practice area, and many firms title it up as ACT (Antitrust, Competition & Trade).

 

[James Carrabino]

Hello @George Maxwell,
Would categorise Antitrust Law as separate area of law or its a part of corporate Law?

I would categorise it as a separate department, although it is part of corporate law more broadly (as opposed to family or criminal law, for example)!

Antitrust primarily consists of three areas - antitrust litigation, antitrust regulatory/advisory and merger control (which involves approving mergers and acquisitions by ensuring that the new combined company will not be monopolistic). Merger control is the only area which may be considered 'part of corporate' and if a commercial firm does not do the other areas of antitrust then it is likely that their antitrust team is a support team to the corporate lawyers. That does still not necessarily make it part of corporate although it could be looked at that way, if you were also to consider a tax support department 'part of corporate'.

On the other hand, I know of some firms which include antitrust/competition under their disputes practice. Antitrust litigation is a beast of its own and the lawyers involved in it will often be incredibly specialised even beyond other litigators. Many firms will not do antitrust litigation but antitrust regulatory is more common as clients often seek advice on potential antitrust issues when seeking to enter new markets or develop a new product etc.

I hope that is useful

 

[George Maxwell]

Hello @George Maxwell,
Would categorise Antitrust Law as separate area of law or its a part of corporate Law?

I would categorise it as a separate department, although it is part of corporate law more broadly (as opposed to family or criminal law, for example)!

Antitrust primarily consists of three areas - antitrust litigation, antitrust regulatory/advisory and merger control (which involves approving mergers and acquisitions by ensuring that the new combined company will not be monopolistic). Merger control is the only area which may be considered 'part of corporate' and if a commercial firm does not do the other areas of antitrust then it is likely that their antitrust team is a support team to the corporate lawyers. That does still not necessarily make it part of corporate although it could be looked at that way, if you were also to consider a tax support department 'part of corporate'.

On the other hand, I know of some firms which include antitrust/competition under their disputes practice. Antitrust litigation is a beast of its own and the lawyers involved in it will often be incredibly specialised even beyond other litigators. Many firms will not do antitrust litigation but antitrust regulatory is more common as clients often seek advice on potential antitrust issues when seeking to enter new markets or develop a new product etc.

I hope that is useful

Hey @abdul T!

@James Carrabino has provided you some fantastic advice here which I have very little to add to. All I would say is that if you are keen to categorise Antitrust, a safe term to use would be commercial law, rather than corporate. As James outlined, Antitrust (which is often referred to as Competition in the UK: Antitrust is used much more in the US!), can take various shapes. Commercial law is a bit of a catch-all term.

Hope that helps 🚀

Thanks for the question too! It is great to be tagged by members of the community!

 

[abdul T]

It is often considered a separate practice area, and many firms title it up as ACT (Antitrust, Competition & Trade).

thank you, so much for your input.

 

[abdul T]

I would categorise it as a separate department, although it is part of corporate law more broadly (as opposed to family or criminal law, for example)!

Antitrust primarily consists of three areas - antitrust litigation, antitrust regulatory/advisory and merger control (which involves approving mergers and acquisitions by ensuring that the new combined company will not be monopolistic). Merger control is the only area which may be considered 'part of corporate' and if a commercial firm does not do the other areas of antitrust then it is likely that their antitrust team is a support team to the corporate lawyers. That does still not necessarily make it part of corporate although it could be looked at that way, if you were also to consider a tax support department 'part of corporate'.

On the other hand, I know of some firms which include antitrust/competition under their disputes practice. Antitrust litigation is a beast of its own and the lawyers involved in it will often be incredibly specialised even beyond other litigators. Many firms will not do antitrust litigation but antitrust regulatory is more common as clients often seek advice on potential antitrust issues when seeking to enter new markets or develop a new product etc.

I hope that is useful

Thank you @James Carrabino
This is really helpful and you have clearly explained the structure of Competition Law practice. Thanks a lot for your valuable input.

 

[abdul T]

Hey @abdul T!

@James Carrabino has provided you some fantastic advice here which I have very little to add to. All I would say is that if you are keen to categorise Antitrust, a safe term to use would be commercial law, rather than corporate. As James outlined, Antitrust (which is often referred to as Competition in the UK: Antitrust is used much more in the US!), can take various shapes. Commercial law is a bit of a catch-all term.

Hope that helps 🚀

Thanks for the question too! It is great to be tagged by members of the community!

@George Maxwell
Thank you for your input. Makes sense to categorise it as Commercial Law on basis of scope it has apart from the litigation part.

 

[James Carrabino]

Thank you @James Carrabino
This is really helpful and you have clearly explained the structure of Competition Law practice. Thanks a lot for your valuable input.

Of course @abdul T, really glad it was helpful! I should add that many firms are now including Foreign Direct Investment and National Security Review within their competition teams, even though it is strictly not competition law. Nevertheless, these involve the approval process for mergers and acquisitions across state lines based on the foreign investment and national security laws of the country where the target is based, so the review procedure has many similar attributes to the review procedure for merger control on competition grounds!

 

[Kubed]

For anyone interested, just seen on LinkedIn that Clifford Chance have launched a virtual antitrust internship:

Forage

Advise our clients on how to approach Antitrust laws. | Build real world skills with Forage.

www.theforage.com

 

[abdul T]

Of course @abdul T, really glad it was helpful! I should add that many firms are now including Foreign Direct Investment and National Security Review within their competition teams, even though it is strictly not competition law. Nevertheless, these involve the approval process for mergers and acquisitions across state lines based on the foreign investment and national security laws of the country where the target is based, so the review procedure has many similar attributes to the review procedure for merger control on competition grounds!

@James Carrabino,
This is something new I’ve learned about competition practise where foreign direct investments and National security review are involved. Thank you!!!!