A GUIDE TO THE WORLD S LEADING COMPETITION LAW AND ECONOMICS PRACTICES 12 TH ANNUAL EDITION REVISED AND UPDATED

Transcription

1 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPETITION POLICY AND REGULATION GCR A GUIDE TO THE WORLD S LEADING COMPETITION LAW AND ECONOMICS PRACTICES 12 TH ANNUAL EDITION REVISED AND UPDATED

2 GCR 100: INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION WELCOME to the 2012 edition of the GCR 100, our comprehensive, independent assessment of the world s top antitrust and competition practices. As in past years, the GCR 100 offers extensive qualitative analysis of antitrust groups in jurisdictions around the world. Compiled by the staff of Global Competition Review, the publication profiles more than 400 competition practices at over 300 law firms from across the globe. Our sister survey, the Economics 20, offers a picture of the world s leading economics consultancies for competition advice. This year, we feature firms in 41 jurisdictions Massachusetts is our new addition to our listings in a bid to provide a truly global analysis. The entries here are based on the information we gather during our country surveys. Every month, reporters visit two jurisdictions where they meet with the country s leading competition practitioners, as well as the head of the local enforcement agency. In 2011, we visited Korea, Ireland, Germany, Boston, Norway, Finland, Greece, Chicago, Washington, DC, Spain, the Netherlands, Chile and the UK. The information gathered during these visits is coupled with an understanding of different jurisdictions gathered from more than a decade of reporting competition news around the world. Firms are grouped into three categories: elite, highly recommended and recommended. Within each division, the firms are listed in alphabetical order. Some firms appear several times in the GCR 100 a reflection of their strong practices in more than one jurisdiction. We have contacted each of the firms included in our monthly surveys and asked them to update their information and provide an overview of their work and any changes to their competition team. Our data covers the period 31 July 2010 to 1 August 2011, though we make every effort to include significant developments since the end of this period, in the interests of making the publication as relevant as possible. We do not attempt to cover every firm with a competition law practice in the listed jurisdictions. We instead use our research to provide a picture of the leading practices. In addition to the country surveys, we use knowledge garnered through our daily news reporting duties to inform our analysis. Each day, GCR reporters talk to lawyers, economists and enforcement officials based all over the world, which gives us a broad picture of developments in the competition world as they unfold. This information is vital to our research for this publication, as it gives us a clear understanding of which firms are fastest to react to major changes in a jurisdiction and can then pass on that knowledge to their clients. Knowing which is the best firm in an individual jurisdiction doesn t necessarily reflect how it performs on a global stage. For that, we turn to the Global Elite, our assessment of the top 20 competition practices in the world, which includes a detailed profile of each firm featured. To help us determine the international superstars of the competition bar, we look at several factors. The size of a firm s practice is undeniably important; though quantity doesn t always guarantee quality, large practices are generally well equipped to handle big cases. And it makes sense to assume that firms fielding large competition teams can justify them in terms of the value they add. We also consider the reputations of individual lawyers within each practice with the help of our sister publication, The International Who s Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists. The Who s Who is the product of exhaustive research conducted over the year, in which researchers speak to hundreds of lawyers and clients to canvass their views on the very best individuals in the field. The number of individuals from a given firm featured in the Who s Who tells us a great deal about that firm s quality. Also, we asked all of the firms we surveyed for this edition to tell us which of their rivals they most respected both within their given jurisdictions and globally. Their answers help to shape our reporting and weigh considerably in calculating which firms will appear in the Global Elite. Finally, we consider the stability of a firm s antitrust practice, weighing new hires and promotions over the last year, as well as looking at who s leaving the firm. 3

3 GCR 100: INTRODUCTION GCR 100 Successful firms are able to recruit and retain the very best practitioners. This year, those factors have become even more important after the venerable antitrust group at Howrey disbanded last year flooding the market with a once-in-a-generation deluge of dozens of talented and experienced competition lawyers. For this edition of the GCR 100, we find out where the former Howrey antitrust partners landed. We hope that the GCR 100 serves a dual purpose. First, to provide food for thought as to what really makes one antitrust practice better than the next. And second, to provide a practical resource for in-house counsel or for law firms looking to refer work or build more contacts internationally. For firms featured in the GCR 100, we list the practice head, the number of specialists (broken down by partner, counsel/consultants and senior and junior associates) and the firm s major clients. In the rare instances where firms did not take part in the research we do not include a write-up, but we do mention them in the accompanying table. For the Global Elite, we consider additional criteria including the number of Who s Who nominees in the firm, as well as the percentage of the partnership to feature in the Who s Who. We list lateral hires, partner departures and promotions, and we look at the competition department as a percentage of the firm as a whole. We distinguish between firms that see competition as a main source of work, and those for which it is just one of many departments that feed at the table of larger corporate practices.

4 GCR 100: THE GCR Global Elite GCR 100 The GCR 100: Global Elite Position last year 1 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 1 2 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton 2 3 Linklaters 4 4 Arnold & Porter 5 5 Clifford Chance 6 6 Hogan Lovells 10 7 Jones Day 7 8 Latham & Watkins 8 9 Allen & Overy 9 10 Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom Gibson Dunn & Crutcher White & Case Slaughter and May Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr Baker & McKenzie Herbert Smith Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Dewey & LeBoeuf New entry 19 Covington & Burling New entry 20 Hengeler Mueller global competition review

5 GCR 100: THE GCR Global Elite GCR Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Leadership: Home jurisdiction: Susan Creighton and Jonathan Jacobson United States Total size of firm: 600 Number of competition specialists: 50 Percentage of competition specialists: 8 Who s Who Legal nominees: 8 Partners: 13 Percentage of partners in Who s Who Legal: 62 Associates: 27 Counsel and consultants: 5 Other: 4 Number of lateral partner hires: 5 Number of partner departures: 0 Number of internal promotions: 0 A year after joining the GCR Global Elite, the team at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati made waves in the global competition market by expanding its alreadyimpressive antitrust practice to Brussels. The team hired a top-notch team led by ex-hunton & Williams partner Michael Rosenthal and including Götz Drauz, a former Howrey partner and deputy director at DG Comp. That growth adds to some impressive hires, including former DoJ prosecutor Mark Rosman and IP specialist David Stewart. In all, the firm grew to 50 competition specialists last year, up from 39 in 2010, and added two Who s Who Legal nominees. The rapid expansion marks the sharpest growth of any Global Elite firm, and it puts Wilson Sonsini firmly in the passing lane in our rankings as the firm continues to grow. No mention of Wilson Sonsini s antitrust practice is complete without mentioning its work for headline client Google. The team continues to advise the company in continuing dominance investigations by the European Commission, US Federal Trade Commission and several state attorneys general. The team also secured victories for Google last year, when it won a motion to dismiss an antitrust complaint brought by rival mytriggers and helped clear its purchase of ITA Software. Netflix is also a major client. The team secured several victories for the DVD rental company in three separate litigations. LiveNation, McAfee, Nestlé, EDF, Caterpillar and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center all turned to the Wilson Sonsini team for antitrust guidance last year as well. 28 global competition review

6 GCR 100: US GOVERNMENT ANTITRUST US GOVERNMENT ANTITRUST Washington, DC, continues to be the epicentre of US antitrust law. The firms practising antitrust law in the country s capital city are among the best the US has to offer particularly when it comes to handling mergers and other investigations before the US antitrust agencies. But many DC practices pride themselves on being able to handle all types of antitrust matters, from government merger probes to courtroom litigations HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Susan Creighton leads a four-partner group at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Washington, DC. Creighton and Scott Sher are Who s Who Legal entrants, while the firm lost Who s Who Legal nominee Renata Hesse to the US Federal Communication Commission last year, talented partners Mark Rosman and Seth Silber maintain the team s strength. The group continues to advise major clients on criminal and civil government investigations, as well as litigation, merger and intellectual property work. Topping the team s recent work is its continuing representation of headline client Google in wide-ranging investigations of the company s search and advertising practices brought by the FTC and the European Commission. The team also helped Google clear its purchase of ITA Software last year, and continues to advise it in a private case against smaller search rival MyTriggers. The team is active for multiple other hightech clients, including acting for Seagate Technology in its purchase of Samsung s hard disk drive business, and Epicor Software s acquisition by Apax Partners. Last year, the team also advised University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in a headline-grabbing monopolisation case brought by its main rival, West Penn Allegheny Health System. McAfee, NVIDIA, Netflix, Twitter, OpenLane are also antitrust clients, among scores of others. Firm Highly Recommended Head of competition Size Clients Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Susan Creighton 4p, 1sp c, 13a Google, NVIDIA, 3Comp, Procter & Gamble, CVS Caremark, Epicor Software, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Netflix, HTC Corporation, OpenLane, Total SA, Seagate Technology Key: eq p = equity partner, p = partner, c = counsel, sp c = special counsel, oc = of counsel, cons = consultant, sa = senior associate, a = associate, e = economist 182 GLOBAL COMPETITION REVIEW

7 GCR 100: CALIFORNIA UNITED STATES: CALIFORNIA The many talented antitrust practices in California remain the country s leaders in high-tech and entertainment industry mergers and investigations. And with work driven by the active San Francisco field office of the US Department of Justice s antitrust division, there is no shortage of price-fixing litigation and class actions in California courts on which local counsel often advise SILICON VALLEY Who s Who Legal nominee Chris Compton leads the way for Silicon Valley mainstay Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. While much of the firm s antitrust focus resides in Washington, DC, its Palo Alto practice retains an impressive roster of high-tech industry clients in Silicon Valley. Compton worked together with the firm s DC team over the past year representing Calisolar, Polycom, Francisco Partners, Intevac and others on antitrust issues surrounding potential transactions. Compton also took the lead for Actel on its acquisition by Microsemi Corp, and for DeNA in its purchase of mobile-game publisher ngmoco that created the world s largest social games platform company. Taleo Corporation is also a client. Firm Head of competition Size Clients Silicon Valley Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Chris Compton, Susan Creighton 8p, 1oc, 1c, 14a Google, American Express, Live Nation, 3Com, Palm, Sun Microsystems Key: eq p = equity partner, p = partner, sa = senior associate, a = associate, c = counsel, oc = of counsel, ec = economist, sc = senior counsel 178 GLOBAL COMPETITION REVIEW

8 GCR 100: NEW YORK UNITED STATES: NEW YORK New York s historic antitrust practices have maintained their relationships with the city s major banks and insurers, and those relationships have become the engine behind a new wave of cases. Plus, many New York firms have worked hard over the past decade to expand their presence in Washington, DC, and add lawyers with significant government experience to their New York-based teams HIGHLY RECOMMENDED No New York antitrust team punches above its weight quite like west-coast transplant Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. The three-partner practice, which includes Who s Who Legal nominees Jonathan Jacobson and Charles E Biggio, is well known for its experience in the high-tech sector. It now finds itself central to some of the largest and most high-profile antitrust matters in the country. No conversation about the Wilson Sonsini antitrust practice can begin without mentioning the firm s impressive work for search engine leader Google. But Jacobson s experience and reputation as one of the top litigators in the country has led multiple major clients to follow him to the firm. He s been principal outside antitrust counsel to The Coca-Cola Company for 20 years or more, including during the PepsiCo monopolisation case against the company in the late 1990s. American Express is another institutional client, Jacobson says, and he and the practice are still acting for the credit card company in several major matters. But Jacobson says that at Wilson Sonsini, no one takes credit for any one client. Matters are handled by the group as a whole a group that appears to be steadily improving, both in New York and elsewhere. Firm Head of competition Size Clients Highly recommended Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Jonathan Jacobson 3p, 8a Google, The Coca-Cola Company, American Express, Live Nation, Transitions Optical, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Key: p = partner, a = associate, c = counsel, sa = senior associate 201