Overview
Robinson Bradshaw maintains one of the leading antitrust and competition practices in the Southeast, representing clients in every area of antitrust law.
Our antitrust litigation practice represents corporate and institutional clients in complex litigation, including class actions and MDLs, involving a range of alleged violations of the Sherman Act and other federal and state competition laws. We defend clients in a range of industries in courts across the country, working from the outset of litigation to identify key legal and economic arguments needed to prevail before trial, or at trial. Our team also has significant experience handling civil and criminal investigations conducted by the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and state antitrust enforcement agencies.
Our team also represents corporate clients in sophisticated mergers, acquisitions and other transactions to identify and remedy potential antitrust issues. Our work begins with assessing antitrust risk during the earliest stages of a transaction, which allows clients to effectively structure transactions to account for competition issues and allows us to be prepared with the legal and economic analyses necessary to navigate the deal negotiation and clearance process. We work seamlessly with our clients to file Hart-Scott-Rodino and other premerger notifications and then guide transactions through review at the Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission. Our recent work has included securing antitrust clearance for multiple multibillion-dollar transactions.
In addition to solving antitrust issues once they arise, our lawyers counsel clients to minimize antitrust risks for potential transactions and joint ventures; marketing and distribution agreements; pricing policies; and other trade practices. We also regularly conduct antitrust compliance training for our clients—both for lawyers and business executives. Our antitrust team advises clients in a wide range of industries, including health care, manufacturing, consumer goods, telecommunications and insurance.
Experience
Litigation
- Represent the Southeastern Conference in nationwide litigation challenging NCAA rules related to name, image and likeness activity and student-athlete benefits, including in In re NCAA Grant-In-Aid Cap Antitrust Litigation (N.D. Cal.), In re College Athlete NIL Litigation (N.D. Cal.), and Fontenot v. NCAA (D. Colo.).
- Represent Charlotte Pipe and Foundry in In re PVC Pipe Litigation, a multidistrict class action proceeding in the Northern District of Illinois.
- Represent defendants in coordinated proceeding in the Northern District of Illinois alleging price-fixing conspiracy among turkey producers.
- Represent Race Team Alliance, a coalition of the top NASCAR race teams, in antitrust litigation brought by a race team against NASCAR.
- Represented the University of North Carolina in Seaman v. Duke University, et al., a class action proceeding in the Middle District of North Carolina involving an alleged no-hire agreement.
- Represented National Gypsum Co. in the Domestic Drywall Antitrust Litigation, a multidistrict class action proceeding in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
- Represented Charlotte Pipe and Foundry in the Cast Iron Soil Pipe and Fittings Antitrust Litigation, a multidistrict class action proceeding in the Eastern District of Tennessee.
- Represented a key third-party witness who provided trial testimony at the liability phase and remedies phase in the United States v. Google case focused on digital advertising technology.
- Represent RealPage Inc. in United States v. Real Page Inc., an antitrust litigation proceeding in the Middle District of North Carolina.
- Represent numerous clients in confidential investigations by federal and state agencies.
Transactions
- Represented Fresenius Medical Care, the world's largest provider of dialysis products and services, in its $2 billion acquisition of NxStage Medical Inc., a leading medical device company.
- Represented Raycom Media Inc. in its $3.65 billion merger with Gray Television Inc.
- Represented Fresenius Medical Care in the $2.15 billion sale of Sound Physicians, a hospitalist company, to a consortium led by Summit Partners.
- Represented Enpro Industries in its $850 million acquisition of NxEdge from Trive Capital.
- Represented Enpro Industries in the $305 million sale of its GGB business to The Timken Company.
- Represented Enpro Industries in the $195 million sale of its Compressor Products International business unit to Howden Group.
- Represented Honeywell International Inc. in its acquisition of US Digital Designs.
- Represented HarbisonWalker International in its sale to Platinum Equity.
Accolades
Honors & Recognitions
- Chambers USA, Band 1 for antitrust, 2006-25
- Best Law Firms, Charlotte Tier 1 for antitrust law, 2011-26; Raleigh Tier 1 for antitrust law, 2024-26; Raleigh Tier 1 for litigation - antitrust, 2023-26; Charlotte Tier 1 for litigation - antitrust, 2011-17, 2024
