Justin helps clients make confident decisions in the face of complex and fast-moving antitrust scrutiny. His practice covers merger control, civil conduct investigations and litigation strategy – often involving multiple agencies across jurisdictions.
He brings deep experience representing clients in front of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice, State Attorneys General and agencies around the world. Clients in sectors including life sciences, technology, industrials, sustainability and financial services turn to Justin for his practical understanding of how enforcers think – and how to anticipate what comes next.
He advises on premerger notification requirements, second requests, joint ventures, civil conduct investigations, ESG-related competition matters and compliance with agency orders. His secondment to Freshfields’ London office gives him an additional international perspective on cross-border issues and enforcement trends in the UK and Europe.
Before joining the firm, Justin was a lead attorney in the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, where he oversaw merger investigations, civil conduct investigations and contributed to regulatory policy and international coordination efforts.
In addition to his client work, Justin plays an active role in shaping the antitrust community. He is a member of the American Bar Association and contributes regularly to thought leadership in the field. He serves on advisory boards for The Antitrust Bulletin and the Fordham Competition Law Institute, and co-edits the North America column for Competition Policy International. Within Freshfields,...
- Standard BioTools Inc. in its strategic sale of SomaLogic to Illumina, Inc. for an upfront payment of $350mn in cash at closing and up to $75mn in cash in near-term milestone payments.
- Capella Space Corp., an aerospace company with data and satellite solutions for government and commercial applications, on its sale to IonQ, Inc., a quantum computing and networking company.
- Sonoco on its $3.9bn acquisition of Eviosys.
- AstraZeneca on its $1.05bn acquisition of Amolyt Pharma.
- AstraZeneca on its $2bn acquisition of Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc.
- Global organizations and corporate clients on the antitrust and competition law aspects of individual ESG initiatives and sector/industry collaborations.
- Bucherer AG in its sale to a manufactoring company.
- Sonoco Products Company on its $330 million in cash acquisition of the remaining equity interest in its joint venture with the WestRock Company, RTS Packaging, and one paper mill in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
- Zymergen on its $300 million sale to Ginkgo Bioworks—the first-ever sale of a publicly-listed public benefit corporation.
- Cargill, one of the largest private companies in the US, in the $4.53bn take-private of Nasdaq-listed Sanderson Farms and the concurrent combination of Sanderson Farms with privately-held Wayne Farms.
- Stanley Black & Decker on the $3.2bn sale of its global electronic security solutions healthcare solutions businesses to Securitas AB.
- Sonoco on its $1.35bn acquisition of Ball Metalpack.
- AstraZeneca on its successful $39bn acquisition of Alexion including securing unconditional clearance in more than 20 antitrust and foreign direct investment jurisdictions.
- ProAssurance on the antitrust considerations of its $441 million dollar acquisition of NORCAL.
- The London Stock Exchange Group on the US and global merger control aspects of its $27bn deal to acquire Refinitiv.
- Evonik during trial where we successfully defended the company against the FTC’s attempt to block its proposed acquisition of PeroxyChem, a competing hydrogen peroxide producer.
- Smiths Group, a London-listed global technology company, on the international competition and regulatory aspects of its acquisition of Morpho Detection, a California-based detection and security solutions company. Read more about the deal in our case study.
- Intel, a global manufacturer of computer microprocessors and computing devices and leader in the server and semiconductor processing chips industry, on its $16.7bn acquisition of Altera.
- Novartis on two multibillion-dollar transactions: its joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline to form a world-leading consumer healthcare business; and the $5.4bn sale of its animal health business to Eli Lilly.
- Hapag-Lloyd, one of the largest container shipping lines in the world, on its merger with the container shipping activities of Chile’s Compania Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV).
- In the defense of a US industrial manufacturer in an FTC Section 5 investigation of alleged anticompetitive co-ordination among US suppliers, resulting in closing of the investigation with no enforcement action.
Justin’s experience at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission includes:
- In the Matter of Fidelity National Financial, Inc. and Lender Processing Services (2014);
- In the Matter of Bosley, Inc., a corporation, and Aderans America Holdings, Inc., a corporation, and Aderans Co., Ltd., a corporation (2013);
- In the Matter of CoStar Group, Inc., Lonestar Acquisition Sub, Inc., and LoopNet, Inc (2012); and
- In the Matter of Pilot Corporation, et al. (2010).
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