Kelley Drye’s antitrust attorneys can guide companies, trade groups and individuals through it safely. Our clients benefit from the deep experience of our group in each of the major areas of antitrust and competition law and consumer protection. A number of our lawyers served in government, including former officials at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Our Washington-based consulting arm, Georgetown Economic Services, augments our legal analysis with its strength in industrial economics.
Counseling at Kelley Drye ranges from the quick answers in urgent consultations to full-scale antitrust compliance programs that both anticipate problems and provide solutions for issues that arise. The firm’s attorneys also conduct antitrust audits—an important component of effective antitrust compliance programs—for a wide variety of businesses and associations. Kelley Drye advises clients on how to minimize antitrust risk related to distribution, and helps them comply with price discrimination laws. The firm provides advice on forming joint ventures and forging a range of other cooperative agreements in ways that help clients stay clear of antitrust issues. Clients also look to us for help in defending against efforts by weaker competitors to claim monopolistic behavior as a way to undo legitimately gained client successes. The firm’s lawyers help businesses successfully avoid expensive litigation and entanglement in government investigations.
Kelley Drye provides antitrust counseling and compliance advice to clients in the following areas:
- Distribution and Price Discrimination–Kelley Drye regularly advises businesses on how to minimize antitrust risk when implementing dual-distribution plans, establishing exclusive contracts, territorial restrictions, or customer restrictions with distributors, resolving disputes with distributors, developing suggested retail price and minimum advertised pricing programs, executing Most Favored Nation clauses and considering reciprocal dealing arrangements. To ensure compliance with price discrimination laws, Kelley Drye lawyers routinely advise large manufacturing clients regarding the best structure and programs for downstream relationships. We fashion innovative solutions for our clients that minimize risk while allowing the maximum level of responsiveness to their purchasers’ needs.
- Competitor Relations–We provide clients with professional advice to ensure they receive the benefits of collaboration without unnecessary risk of antitrust liability, whether their collaboration involves a joint venture, joint sales agreement, research and development venture or cross-licensing agreement.
- Dominant Firms–Our attorneys defend successful companies against weaker competitors who use claims of monopolistic behavior to undermine our clients' fairly obtained large market shares. Kelley Drye helps clients avoid antitrust claims by advising them in conducting their business with greater care, whether that might involve distribution practices, licensing arrangements, and even negotiations and relations with customers.
- Joint Ventures and Alliances–Kelley Drye works with trade associations, buyers groups and businesses that collaborate with others to structure their ventures and alliances in ways that avoid triggering DOJ and FTC scrutiny.
- Consumer Protection–Kelley Drye represents clients in all areas of consumer protection law, including false and deceptive advertising, unfair trade practices and privacy issues related to the use of personal information. We have an excellent record in advertising litigation and National Advertising Division proceedings, and substantive experience at the FTC, the offices of state attorneys general and the broadcast networks.