John has over 25 years of experience advising clients on a variety of complex antitrust issues, including high-profile litigation and investigations, and is an alumnus of the Federal Trade Commission. He is a leading cartel class action lawyer and represents both plaintiffs and defendants in all manners of antitrust claims.

Co-published with Global Competition Review, Who's Who Legal: Competition is a comprehensive guide to the leading competition lawyers around the world.

Who’s Who Legal is an organization that identifies the leading legal practitioners and consulting experts in business law based on comprehensive, independent research. The individuals featured in the guide obtained the largest number of nominations from peers, corporate counsel, and other market sources.

• Last month, the FTC released a new policy statement noting its broadened view of the scope of its power under Section 5 of the FTC Act, signaling that it may find certain private equity rollups violate its interpretation.
• The FTC policy statement came on the heels of a DOJ announcement that it would be increasing the enforcement of Section 8 of the Clayton Act.
• These developments underscore the need for private equity companies to take particular care in observing U.S. competition laws, as there will be greater scrutiny of private equity firms.

In this client alert, Melissa Maxman, Ronald Wick, and Alisa Lu analyze what these actions mean for the future of antitrust enforcement in the private equity sector and provide insight into how PE firms can prepare themselves for continued additional scrutiny.

Listen to this episode to learn more about the components of the draft, including the Commission’s two-stage approach for analysing potential exclusionary abuses of dominance and the available defences, as well as the implications for the guidelines of the Google Shopping ECJ judgment that deals with self-preferencing as an abuse.

When Pharmacy Benefit Managers first entered, they were praised for negotiating with manufacturers and driving down prices. The FTC advocated against regulation and a number of mergers involving PBMs were cleared. In 2023, things changed. Legislation to regulate PBMs was introduced in both Congress and state legislatures. The FTC withdrew prior policy statements involving PBMs. State AGs filed lawsuits. And several antitrust class actions were brought. The panel discussed the evolution of PBMs in the health competition landscape, including what the future may bring.

In the episode, the DOJ Antitrust Division’s Deputy Assistant Attorney Generals Andy Forman and Michael Kades speak with Melissa and co-host Anora Wang of Arnold & Porter about the background, guiding principles, and some specific language in the draft Guidelines.

In recent congressional testimony, FTC Chair Lina Khan definitively declared that there is no ESG antitrust exemption. How can companies avoid violating the antitrust laws while still complying with demands from their shareholders and other constituents to conduct business consistent with policies that are environmentally and socially sensitive, and promote good public policy?

Melissa Maxman participated in the discussion, which addressed the intersection between ESG and the Sherman Act.

Listen to this episode to learn more about whether existing antitrust exemptions, such as Noerr-Pennington, can affect business decisions about ESG.

C&G’s Melissa H Maxman co-hosts this episode of the podcast “Our Curious Amalgam,” presented by the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section, where she spoke with Bill Kovacic, Former Chair of the FTC and Director of the Competition Law Center at George Washington University, to discuss how the nearly decade-long debate about antitrust reform may play out in the new administration.