Anti Trust Law

Antitrust Law

Antitrust cases are front-page news. Antitrust laws are designed to protect competition in the marketplace and to protect consumers. The Sherman Anti-trust Act and the Clayton Act are “the Bible” for antitrust lawyers. There are a lot of documents that antitrust lawyers must review and prepare, and there is a lot of information to take in. Mostly, antitrust lawyers will be focusing on litigation, mergers and joint ventures, counseling, or some combination of the three.

Thus, antitrust law varies a lot. For example, if you focus a lot on mergers and acquisitions within antitrust law, you might be working with documents about market share. You may sometimes be providing counseling to companies in order to avoid litigation while other times you may be directly involved in litigation. You might be collaborating with an expert to prepare reports to support your side (often an economist). Young lawyers will likely be taking care of a lot of the paperwork while more experienced attorneys deal with the clients. It’s also likely that you will be involved with class actions. This is an area of law that varies a great deal from case to case, and the law is not always clear cut which creates a lot of confusion.

Some of the issues you may deal with are monopolization, price-fixing, bid-rigging, vertical pricing, and unfair competition, to name a few. How much regulation of our economy should exist is always a hotly debated topic, but whether you want to defend companies accused of violations or work for the government to regulate more forcefully if you are interested in a job where you can constantly gain new knowledge about the way industries operate, read on.

Education and Background:

You should have a very strong understanding of economics before attempting to enter this practice area. Antitrust law involves complex issues; government experience is recommended, particularly if you plan to get a job anywhere near D.C.

If you did not major in economics (or at least a related field) in college, you should perhaps think more carefully about this as your career path. However, if you have an understanding of economics concepts and a strong willingness to learn, do not let the numbers-orientation scare you away.

Getting a job:

There are opportunities with law firms, companies, and the government available, and often antitrust lawyers will spend a couple of years in each. Working at the DOJ, FTC, or even state attorney general’s offices is possible, but outside of the D.C. area more people choose to work for law firms. There are some large companies in certain industries that will hire in-house counsel, which may be a very profitable way to go for a seasoned anti-trust lawyer.

Antitrust law is growing as more and more companies become “giants” and as more countries enforce antitrust laws. As international operations expand, expect to see more of an overlap between antitrust law and international law.

Average salary:

A current search on Law Crossing reveals an average salary of $114,521. Salaries in large cities are dramatically higher.

Would you like this practice area?

If you enjoyed economics or politics classes, antitrust law might be up your alley. You not only need to be numbers-oriented, but you must also be a quick learner. Each case will require you to learn the ins and outs of an industry that you previously may not have known anything about. Therefore, if you love constantly learning new things and are the type of person who wanted to stay in school forever, this might be the area for you. You need to enjoy working with massive amounts of documents and be willing to devote a large portion of your time to reviewing and producing more.

Consider whether these articles interest you:

Predatory Pricing: Limiting Brooke Groupe to Monopolies and Sound Implementation of Price-Cost Comparison (Edlin)

“C. Scott Hemphill and Philip Weiser point out several infirmities of the Brooke Group predatory pricing decision, including the fact that the Supreme Court laid down the below-cost pricing and recoupment requirements without hearing either party present counterarguments to them. In light of this fact and complex market realities, they argue for flexibility in satisfying these requirements. In this Response, I go further, arguing that in monopoly cases the greatest competitive danger likely results from above-cost pricing, so the Brooke Group safe harbor for above-cost pricing should not have been extended to monopolies. When price-cost tests are implemented, I show that many cost measures other than average variable cost can be appropriate to demonstrate profit sacrifice.” Read more

U.S. FTC probes Facebook’s acquisition practices – WSJ (Paul and Wolfe)

“The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Facebook Inc acquisitions were aimed at buying up potential rivals before they could become a threat to the social media company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company’s acquisition practices are the main focus of the probe, as the FTC looks into Facebook buying technology-based startups to keep them from challenging it, the report said.” Read more

Trump DOJ Escalates Big Tech Scrutiny With New Antitrust Probe (McLaughlin, Nix, and Wagner)

“The U.S. Justice Department sent the strongest signal yet that it’s prepared to take on technology giants like Facebook and Google, announcing a broad antitrust review into whether the companies are using their power to thwart competition. The department’s antitrust division disclosed plans Tuesday to scrutinize tech platforms following mounting criticism across Washington that the companies have become too big and too powerful.” Read more

Conclusion:

If you are comfortable with economics and interested in learning more about industries through extensive research and documentation, you might like this area of law.

Appellate

Do you love to research? Appellate lawyers serve as a second set of eyes on a case that has already been through trial. It may seem like they are fighting a losing battle since they represent clients who lost the first time around, but Appellate lawyers use their strong research skills to find the legal questions at issue and utilize a new angle to argue the case. The ability to appeal a case is an important part of our justice system, and if you are good at crafting persuasive arguments and love to take on a challenge, appellate law might be for you.

As an appellate lawyer, you will get to focus your time more on reading, writing, researching, and arguing than on dealing with other people. Those who like to be more in the background and prefer a less fast-paced environment will enjoy taking the time to dive deep into complex issues and come up with well-thought-out strategies to argue.

Rather than focusing on the facts of the case like a trial lawyer, you will get to focus on the legal issues of the case. Therefore, you should be comfortable analyzing precedent cases to craft persuasive arguments. You should also be an extremely strong writer because your briefs will be thoroughly scrutinized. One of the major pluses of appellate work is that you don’t have to build the record and do discovery – that’s already been done for you!

If you are interested in the differences between being a trial and appellate lawyer, check out this article.