Fierce Competition Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

In this episode of the "Fierce Competition" podcast, Skadden attorneys Tara Reinhart (partner, Washington, D.C.), Annie Villanueva Jeffers (partner, New York and Palo Alto) and Justine Haimi (counsel, New York) explore the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC’s) landmark ban on noncompete agreements. They discuss the FTC's rationale for the rule, as well as potential implications of the ban for businesses and enforcement challenges it may face. Tara, Annie and Justine point out the likelihood of a preliminary injunction against the rule due to ongoing litigation, and they highlight strategies for employers to navigate this new landscape. The episode emphasizes the FTC's increased focus on labor and worker protection, underscoring the need for companies to monitor the situation given its potential widespread impact on antitrust enforcement and employment practices.
💡 Meet Your Host 💡Name: Tara Reinhart
Title: Partner, Antitrust/Competition at Skadden
Specialty: Tara is head of the Antitrust/Competition Group in Skadden’s Washington, D.C. office. She focuses on civil litigation and government investigations, with an emphasis on complex antitrust litigation and international cartel probes.
Connect: LinkedIn
💡 Featured Guests 💡Name: Annie Villanueva Jeffers
What she does: Annie is a partner in the Labor and Employment Law and Artificial Intelligence Groups at Skadden. She counsels clients on a broad range of employment matters, including employment-related issues arising out of U.S. and multinational corporate transactions, executive employment agreements, restrictive covenant agreements, reductions-in-force, discrimination charges and lawsuits, collective bargaining agreements and internal investigations.
Organization: Skadden
Words of wisdom: On the FTC rule banning noncompetes: “It seems likely that this rule will be enjoined by the courts. I don't have a crystal ball, but that seems likely, in my opinion.”
Connect: LinkedIn

Name: Justine Haimi  
What she does: Justine is a counsel in the Antitrust/Competition Group at Skadden. She represents clients in connection with the antitrust aspects of litigation, mergers and acquisitions and advisory matters. She has worked with clients across a diverse range of industries, including health care, medical devices, insurance, consumer goods, telecommunications, energy and pharmaceuticals.
Organization: Skadden
Words of wisdom: On the FTC rule banning noncompetes: “This rule is really a bombshell, but in retrospect, it was years in the making.”
Connect: LinkedIn

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Illumina announced in December that it would divest GRAIL, the result of a merger challenge with many twists and turns both in the United States and in Europe. 
In this episode of the “Fierce Competition“ podcast, Skadden attorneys Julia York (partner, Washington, D.C.), Ingrid Vandenborre (partner, Brussels) and Michael Sheerin (counsel, New York) talk about the three-year Illumina-GRAIL saga. In particular, they focus on three key areas of the Fifth Circuit's ruling that appear most likely to impact future merger enforcement efforts in the United States.
Tune in to hear about Illumina’s divestment of GRAIL, how it got there and what we can learn from this winding legal battle.
💡 Meet Your Host 💡Name: Julia York 
Title: Partner, Antitrust/Competition at Skadden   
Specialty: Julia has represented numerous global corporations in various industries, including pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, energy and financial markets, in both litigation and transactional matters. She currently serves as the vice chair of the ABA Antitrust Section’s Antitrust Law Development Committee and regularly appears on discussion panels on antitrust issues relevant to the pharmaceutical industry. Julia also actively works on pro bono matters, including representing various amici curiae on briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Connect: LinkedIn
💡 Featured Guests 💡Name: Ingrid Vandenborre   
What she does: Ingrid is the partner in charge of Skadden’s Brussels office and co-head of Skadden’s European Antitrust/Competition practice. Her practice focuses on EU and international merger control and competition law enforcement.   
Organization: Skadden
Words of wisdom: “It's kind of hopeful to hear that there's a limit to the nascent competition criteria.”  
Connect: LinkedIn
Name: Michael Sheerin   
What he does: Michael serves as counsel in the New York office of Skadden’s Antitrust/Competition Group where he represents clients in a broad range of antitrust transactional, litigation and advisory matters. His representations span a diverse range of industries, including technology, health care, life sciences, manufacturing, consumer goods, sports, entertainment and professional services.  
Organization: Skadden
Words of wisdom: “Offering a remedy upfront, particularly a very compelling remedy, can really be a helpful strategy before you get to court.”  
Connect: LinkedIn
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Until recent years, there was barely a single collective claim in Europe, but now, things have changed.
This episode of the “Fierce Competition” podcast features Skadden partners Bill Batchelor, Bruce Macaulay and Matt Martino, who explore class action lawsuits in the U.K. and U.S., focusing on the evolving role of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), a new collective actions tribunal in the U.K., which is currently handling 48 live proceedings, involving a range of unique claims.
Differences in the certification process in both jurisdictions are analyzed, as well as the impact of funding agreements, and much more. Tune in as this episode serves as a rich resource for understanding the intricacies of class action lawsuits on different sides of the Atlantic.
💡 Meet Your Host 💡Name: Bill Batchelor   
Title:   Partner, Antitrust/Competition at Skadden
Specialty: Bill Batchelor has 20 years of EU and U.K. competition law experience and focuses his practice on conduct investigations, including abuse of dominance, cartels and vertical agreements. He regularly represents clients on EU and global merger control matters and litigation, and provides counsel on distribution and collaboration agreements in complex and highly regulated industries, such as health care, financial services, insurance, media and entertainment, and gambling, among others.
Connect:  LinkedIn

💡 Featured Guests 💡Name: Bruce Macaulay   
What he does:  Bruce is a partner in the International Litigation and Arbitration Group in Skadden’s London office. He focuses on complex cross-border litigation, competition law disputes and international arbitration.
Organization: Skadden
Words of wisdom:  On key themes coming out of the CAT at the moment: “We are seeing a number of claims that are pushing the boundaries of what could be termed a competition breach.”
Name: Matt Martino   
What he does: Matt is a partner in the Antitrust/Competition, Sports, and Litigation Groups in Skadden’s New York office. He represents a wide variety of clients in antitrust litigation and advisory matters, as well as those pertaining to all aspects of sports law.
Organization: Skadden
Words of wisdom: “Unlike Canada and what it sounds like is developing a bit in the U.K., the U.S. courts will take a very rigorous analysis at the class certification stage, particularly on the predominance requirement of the class action rule.”
Connect: LinkedIn 
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This episode of the “Fierce Competition” podcast features Skadden antitrust/competition partners Ken Schwartz (New York), Tara Reinhart (Washington, D.C.) and Aurora Luoma (London), who dig into the complexities behind increased antitrust scrutiny for private equity transactions. They shed light on the regulatory focus on market roll-ups, delve into recent litigation and unpack potential political motivations behind the new merger guidelines. 
The Skadden team provides a guide for private equity firms in this unpredictable regulatory landscape and highlights the importance of being litigation-ready and effectively communicating the benefits of their deals. The bottom line? In the midst of regulatory obstacles and intense scrutiny, diligent preparation paired with a solid economic analysis is a private equity firm's best ally.
💡 Meet Your Host 💡Name: Kenneth Schwartz
Title: Partner, Antitrust/Competition at Skadden
Specialty: Ken Schwartz represents clients in antitrust transactional and advisory matters. He has worked in a diverse range of industries, including agriculture, airlines, chemicals, consumer products, defense and government contracting, energy, entertainment, financial services, health care, insurance, media, medical devices, natural resources, private equity, pharmaceuticals, retail and telecommunications.
Connect: LinkedIn 

💡 Featured Guests 💡Name: Tara Reinhart
What she does: Tara Reinhart is head of the Antitrust/Competition Group in Skadden’s Washington, D.C. office. She focuses on civil litigation and government investigations, with an emphasis on complex antitrust litigation and international cartel probes.
Organization: Skadden
Words of wisdom: “When you're looking at the industries that the agencies have been concerned about with roll-ups, there seem to be so many pro-competitive benefits to talk about, and maybe at private equity firms, you're not used to speaking so much about that, but you should.”
Connect: LinkedIn 
Name: Aurora Luoma
What she does: Aurora Luoma is a partner in Skadden’s Antitrust and Competition Group. She has a broad practice covering key areas of competition law, including international merger control, antitrust investigations, state aid and sectoral regulation. She particularly focuses on complex global mergers in the EU and U.K.
Organization: Skadden
Words of wisdom: “Engagement with regulators is increasingly important from an early stage.”
Connect: LinkedIn
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Around the world, regulators are rapidly evolving their approaches to merger control. The landscape has become increasingly complex and fragmented. Transactions that were once straightforward now take much longer and are more likely to be challenged. 
Responding to a perception that their old tools were not working as well as perhaps they should, regulators have introduced a wave of new thresholds and regimes, and also are exploring novel theories of harm and demanding larger volumes of evidence to support mergers.
This premiere episode of the “Fierce Competition” podcast features three partners from Skadden’s Global Antitrust and Competition Group. Host Ingrid Vandenborre (Brussels) is joined by David Wales (Washington, D.C.) and Andrew Foster (Hong Kong) to discuss how companies can navigate this new era of merger control.
💡 Meet Your Host 💡Name: Ingrid Vandenborre
Title: Partner, Antitrust/Competition at Skadden
Specialty: Ingrid Vandenborre is the partner in charge of Skadden’s Brussels office and co-head of Skadden’s European antitrust/competition practice. Her representations focus on EU and international merger control and competition law enforcement.
Connect: LinkedIn  

💡 Featured Guests 💡Name: David Wales
What he does: David Wales is head of Skadden’s North American antitrust/competition practice. He is recognized as a leading antitrust lawyer by several legal publications and has over 25 years of experience in both the private and public sectors. 
Organization: Skadden
Words of wisdom: “[The FTC and DOJ] really are pushing the envelope on the substance, when it comes to vertical issues, potential competition, conglomerate theory.” 
Connect: LinkedIn 
Name: Andrew Foster
What he does: Andrew Foster is head of Skadden’s international competition practice for Asia Pacific. He advises on competition regimes around the globe, focusing on China, the EU and the U.S.
Organization: Skadden
Words of wisdom: “We’re getting much more attention and interest from regulators to try to make sure that they’re capturing every kind of transaction that they think needs to be seen.” 
Connect: LinkedIn 
 
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From Skadden, Fierce Competition is a podcast for corporate counsel of multinational organizations who face the challenges of navigating antitrust policy and enforcement around the world. This is not another U.S. or Eurocentric antitrust podcast. We’re covering global antitrust issues, impacting the most complex industries.
In today's fast-paced global economy, staying informed about antitrust developments is more crucial than ever. From digital antitrust, to the uncertainty of enforcement, to the disparity with how jurisdictions handle mergers, Skadden’s global Antitrust and Competition Group will provide you a nuanced analytical perspective of what's happening in this ever-evolving landscape, one episode at a time. 
If you’re enjoying Fierce Competition, be sure to subscribe in your favorite podcast app so you don’t miss any future episodes. Additional information about Skadden can be found at Skadden.com.
Fierce Competition is a podcast by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, and Affiliates. This podcast is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice. This podcast is considered advertising under applicable state laws.