Profile details
About Julie Elmer
Julie is a Chambers-ranked partner in the antitrust, competition, and trade and litigation practices, based in Washington, DC. With over 25 years of civil litigation experience, Julie focuses on US antitrust litigation against both governmental and private plaintiffs; cartel investigations and follow-on civil litigation; and merger and civil conduct investigations before the US Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and State Attorneys General.
Prior to joining Freshfields, Julie served in the Technology and Financial Services section of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division. During her tenure, she became one of the DOJ’s leading trial attorneys, serving as the DOJ’s lead trial counsel in two of the agency’s last three merger challenges, including the Division’s last trial victory in US v. Energy Solutions. In addition to being one of the DOJ’s top trial leads, Julie played a significant role in two other major litigated cases at the Division, US v. AT&T/Time Warner and US v. United Continental. She served as litigation lead on many other matters, including two of the Division’s most high-profile merger investigations in the last several years, Bayer/Monsanto and T-Mobile/Sprint. When not litigating, Julie handled a wide range of merger investigations in the technology and financial services sectors, among others.
In these roles, Julie worked closely with the Antitrust Division’s political leadership under two administrations and with career attorneys from all six of the Division’s civil litigating sections. Her time at the DOJ also allowed her to build close working relationships with competition authorities from other jurisdictions, in particular the UK’s CMA and the European Commission.
In recognition of her work at the Division, Julie earned seven Awards of Distinction from the Assistant Attorney General under whom she served and was publicly lauded in a speech by the Antitrust Division’s Assistant Attorney General as one of the DOJ’s “top litigators.”
Prior to her tenure at the DOJ, Julie was a partner at one of the premier defense firms in the Southeast United States. There, her practice focused on defending mass actions ranging from consumer fraud and business torts to construction defect and product liability. Her work in these areas encompassed motion practice, bench trials, jury trials, arbitrations, and every other facet of commercial litigation.
Recent work
Julie’s experience includes, at the US Department of Justice:
- Leading the DOJ’s victorious trial team in US v. Energy Solutions/WCS, the last litigated case in which a court addressed the failing firm defense;
- Leading the DOJ’s trial team in US v. Sabre/Farelogix, a case involving nascent competition and technology platforms;
- Handling merger and conduct investigations across a range of industries, including agriculture, aviation, canned seafood, energy, online travel, semiconductors, standard-setting organizations, telecommunications; and travel technology services;
- Playing critical roles on the DOJ’s trial teams in US v. AT&T/Time Warner and US v. United Continental;
- Playing a key role on the civil antitrust side of the DOJ’s parallel civil and criminal investigations of bid-rigging by South Korea-based fuel supply contractors to US military bases in South Korea, resulting in the largest civil antitrust damages settlement the US government has recovered to date; and
- Deposing key executives and building trial ready teams in Bayer/Monsanto and T-Mobile/Sprint.
In private practice, including at her previous firms, Julie’s experience includes:
- Defending Google in litigation relating to its ad tech business, United States et al. v. Google, LLC (E.D. Va.) and In re Google Advertising Antitrust Litigation (S.D.N.Y.), alleging violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act.
- Defending a manufacturing company in two FTC conduct investigations and in follow-on private antitrust litigation;
- Defending McWane, Inc. in an FTC enforcement action where, following an eight-week trial, the administrative law judge rejected the FTC’s price fixing claims and the full Commission subsequently dismissed six of seven conspiracy and monopolization claims; and
- Defending corporate clients in commercial litigation and arbitration in a broad range of industries including financial services, pharmaceuticals, construction, biotechnology, transportation, and insurance.
Qualifications
Education
- JD, University of Virginia School of Law – Dillard Fellow
- BA, Economics, University of Notre Dame, high honors
Bar Admissions
- District of Columbia
- State of Alabama
Awards and recognition
- Recognized in the 2022 edition of Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America – Antitrust Litigation & Investigations
- Recognized in the 2023 Chambers USA Individual Antitrust rankings: Band 5
Speaking Engagements
- Panelist: ABA Antitrust Section – “Litigation Strategy After Amex” (November 6, 2020)
- Panelist: ABA Antitrust Section – “Hot Documents in Merger Litigation” (October 6, 2020)
- Faculty: National Institute for Trial Advocacy – DC Deposition Skills (2019)
- Panelist: ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting – “Up the Creek Without a Presumption?” (2019)
- Faculty: National Institute for Trial Advocacy – DC Investigative Questioning Techniques (2018)
- Panelist: ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting – “Failing Firm: Shop ‘Til You Drop?” (2018)