The firm has successfully litigated a vast array of competition issues, defending clients against government challenges to mergers, civil and criminal cartel actions, and private antitrust litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants. Partners in this practice area have successfully represented clients in large-scale, private treble-damage litigation and in many of the most significant government antitrust cases of this generation.  The team represents clients in investigations involving both civil and criminal implications, and also litigates intellectual property matters.  Kelley Drye deploys legal resources that carefully balance the interests of our clients and also provides alternative dispute resolution services to potentially avoid litigation altogether with significant experience in the following areas:

• Civil Investigative Demands–Kelley Drye frequently represents clients served with agency Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs).  Whether our client’s goal is to minimize the burden of complying with the CID or persuasively present its perspective to the agency, we have the experience and the reputation with the antitrust agencies to ensure that the best interests of our clients are served.


• Criminal Investigations–We represent companies or individuals who come under criminal investigation for antitrust offenses such as price-fixing. Kelley Drye’s team knows how the government prosecutors work in this specialized area, and how to help clients deal with subpoenas, grand juries, potential co-defendants, and simultaneous investigations in multiple countries.  The firm has deep experience with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division's Leniency (Amnesty) Policy, which has been adapted in other countries. Kelley Drye’s lawyers conduct internal investigations to determine the facts, and then develop strategies to ameliorate any alleged misconduct or to defend the charges at trial.


• Competition and Intellectual Property–Kelley Drye’s antitrust attorneys help businesses aggressively protect their intellectual property, while maximizing the value of their inventions. By combining forces with our litigation and intellectual property practices, Kelley Drye’s antitrust attorneys often invoke the antitrust laws in intellectual property litigation.  Whether helping clients fend off frivolous antitrust counterclaims, or using the antitrust laws to prevent a rival from using intellectual property rights to drive competitors out of the market, our antitrust attorneys have the experience and knowledge to defend our clients’ interests in IP-antitrust disputes.


• Dispute Resolution–Our attorneys provide creative approaches to the resolution of competitive disputes in an efficient, cost-effective manner without resorting to litigation.  Through commercial settlements and mediation, arbitration, and summary procedures, where the rules and dynamics are different from those applied in civil courts, we provide alternative mechanisms for resolving competitive issues in a manner that meets both strategic objectives and constrained legal budgets.

The firm’s clients also can tap into the deep economic resources of Georgetown Economic Services, a subsidiary of Kelley Drye, that identifies issues, shapes technical and public policy positions, and provides the economic analysis so important to most antitrust issues.