Antitrust and Competition Policy

Since its founding in 2011, Global Economics Group has provided economic analysis on complex, and often high profile, antitrust and merger matters in the U.S. and abroad. Our experts have testified before courts in these jurisdictions and made presentations to relevant antitrust and regulatory authorities. These experts, and other members of the Global Economics Group team, have been leading contributors to the academic and practical literature on antitrust.

Global Economics Group has significant expertise working with multinationals on issues that span several jurisdictions. Experts are supported by a team of economists specialized in quantitative methods, particularly involving the analysis of extremely large datasets, and in industrial organization and related economic theory. Case teams for large matters are often drawn, based on expertise, from across geographies and languages.

The firm has substantial expertise in antitrust cases, sectoral investigations, and mergers involving multisided platform businesses. The US Supreme Court extensively cited academic publications by Professors Evans and Schmalensee on the economics multisided platforms in State of Ohio v. American Express.

Global Economics Group has provided independent economic analysis for matters in which we have been retained by defendants, plaintiffs/complainants, merging parties and intervenors, and competition authorities.

KEY AREAS INCLUDE

Mergers
• We have experience handling mergers with horizontal and vertical aspects including mergers involving multi-sided platforms and have worked for merging parties, intervenors, and antitrust authorities. Recent US matters include T-Mobile/Sprint working for the merging parties and Comcast/Time Warner Cable working for Netflix in opposition to the proposed merger. Other recent cases involve KLA Tencor’s acquisition or Orbotech in China, for KLA, and Walmart’s proposed acquisition of Cornershop in Mexico, on behalf of Walmart.

Monopolization/Abuse of Dominance 
• We have handled matters involving all aspects of Sherman Act Section 2 in the US and Article 102 in the European Union and equivalent statutes in other jurisdictions. Specific matters have involved tying, bundling, predatory pricing, exclusive dealing and other exclusionary abuses, price discrimination, margin squeezes, essential facilities, and antitrust/intellectual property issues. US cases include Apple v. Qualcomm on behalf of Qualcomm; Qihoo 360 v. Tencent for which we ultimately presented testimony before the Supreme People’s Court of China; and the PayTV market investigation in Mexico.

Horizontal and Vertical Agreements
• Horizontal and vertical agreements. Our experts have handled matters involving all aspects of Sherman Act Section 1 in the US and Article 101 in the European Union and equivalent statutes in other jurisdictions. Specific matters have involved the existence of coordinated behavior, the competitive effects of agreements, and the competitive and efficient aspects of joint ventures and associations. Recent US cases include FTC v. 1-800 Contacts on behalf of the FTC and the BlueCross/Blue Shield MDL Litigation on behalf of the defendants; the German Federal Cartel Office’s investigation of Facebook, on behalf of Facebook, concerning exploitative abuses.

Class Actions
• Class actions. Our experts have provided economic analysis and testimony concerning the certification of classes. We have been involved in many class-action cases in the US such as Thomson et al. v. 1-800 Contacts on behalf of the class plaintiffs and Marchbanks Truck Service et al. v. Comdata et al. on behalf of Comdata.

Contact An Expert

David S. Evans | Advisory Board Member | Boston

Christopher Carrigan | Principal | Washington, D.C.

Steven J. Davis | Director | Chicago