#WorkforceWednesday: NLRB Wants Shuttered Starbucks Stores Reopened, Big Tech Retreats from DEI Programs, and Employers Scrap College Requirements - Employment Law This Week®
Nota Bene Podcast Episode 134: U.S. Q3 Check In: Infrastructure Bill Updates and Big Tech Antitrust with Elizabeth Frazee and Chani Wiggins
Nota Bene Episode 116: Challenging the U.S. Big Tech Antitrust Debate Assumptions: A Deep Dive with Thomas Dillickrath and Bill Margeson
What to Expect from the Biden Administration
Nota Bene Episode 104: European Q4 Check In: Brexit, Digital Platform Regulation, and National Security Regulation with Oliver Heinisch
Nota Bene Episode 68: The Current Antitrust Enforcement Climate in the United States with Capitol Forum Senior Editor Nate Soderstrom
Nota Bene Episode 46: America’s Existential Antitrust Crisis with Thomas Dillickrath
JANUARY – MARCH 2025: KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS - UNITED STATES - FTC Loses Vertical Challenge to Tempur Sealy/Mattress Firm On July 2, 2024, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit in federal court seeking to block...more
On Thursday, April 10, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Mark Meador as a Commissioner of the FTC. Previously, it was expected that Meador’s confirmation would lead to significant changes at the FTC, as his presence on the...more
Digital regulation continues to be at the forefront of regulator concerns, as authorities focus on technology companies through traditional antitrust tools and new digital markets regimes. Further legislation and guidance is...more
Gail Slater was confirmed last week as Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the Antitrust Division; companies should expect a continuation of many Biden-era approaches, with new cases and priorities to advance the Trump...more
As we look back on 2024, one thing is clear: Antitrust enforcement in the technology sector continued at a steady pace, with global agencies showing no signs of relenting in their scrutiny of Big Tech companies....more
On March 11, 2025, the U.S. Senate confirmed Gail Slater to lead the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. Slater received bipartisan support in her confirmation....more
On February 25, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a confirmation hearing for Michael Kratsios, tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as the Director of the White House Office of...more
On Thursday, February 20, 2025, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson announced a Request for Information (RFI) for “public submissions from anyone who has been a victim of tech censorship (banning, demonetization, shadow banning,...more
With the new Trump Administration, antitrust enforcers at the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are transferring leadership to the incoming appointees. FTC leadership...more
Key Points - Strong antitrust enforcement is expected to continue, but without the use of the novel and untested legal theories that defined the Biden administration approach. - Regulators are likely to continue to focus...more
The heightened focus on antitrust and competition issues that has defined dealmaking globally over the past few years looks set for readjustment since President Trump re-entered the White House. Under the Biden...more
The Trump Administration’s antitrust enforcement priorities are beginning to take shape. On January 20, 2025, President Trump designated former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioner Andrew Ferguson as the agency’s next...more
With the nomination of Commissioner Andrew Ferguson as chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) and Gail Slater to helm the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division, the second Trump...more
Global M&A in 2024 faced geopolitical issues, elevated interest rates, and inflationary pressures, with expanding antitrust, foreign investment, national security, and export regimes adding complexity. But inflation receded...more
Many businesses and organizations are in the unique position of having already observed four years of antitrust enforcement under President-elect Donald J. Trump. That, plus the well-publicized records of his announced...more
Following a nine-week bench trial starting in September 2023 and closing arguments in May 2024, District of Columbia district court judge Amit Mehta ruled on August 5, 2024, that Google illegally maintained its monopoly in...more
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week that directors at several technology companies have resigned as a consequence of the agency’s renewed focus on overlapping board membership between...more
FTC Suit Aspires to Chill M&A-Based Growth by Larger Tech Firms - Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan has consistently criticized past FTC leadership for being too lenient with Big Tech M&A activity, and for not...more
Antitrust activity increased significantly in 2021. This past year brought numerous changes in merger and non-merger enforcement policies and priorities that signal increased scrutiny in industry transactions. The “Biden...more
The U.S. antitrust laws are slow to keep up with technical innovation and changing marketplaces. Nowhere is that more evident than in the tech sector, where companies and other players in the market do not fit neatly into...more
On 15 September 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published findings from its retrospective study of the non-reported acquisitions by five large technology companies from 2010-2019 (the Report). Focusing on 616...more
As previewed earlier this week, four companies associated intimately with the opioid epidemic—three distributors and one drugmaker—have finalized a deal with state Attorneys General in which they will pay $26 billion to...more
Expansion of FTC's Interpretation of Its Antitrust Enforcement Authority -The Commission majority has reinvigorated a longstanding but dormant debate about the bounds of the FTC's authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act....more
Last week was momentous for the Federal Trade Commission. First, the campaign use antitrust to reign in “Big Tech” faced a setback as the United States District Court for District of Columbia dismissed the FTC’s suit against...more
On July 9th, President Biden issued a broad-based Executive Order “to promote competition in the American economy.” In the White House’s own words...more