Law firm Hogan Lovells taps FTC antitrust lawyer as agency probes more deals
Adds comments from Jennifer Fleury in paragraph 6
By David Thomas
Oct 15 (Reuters) -International law firm Hogan Lovells said on Tuesday that it has hired a senior lawyer from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission amid a period of increased antitrust enforcement activity by the agency.
Jennifer Fleury joined Hogan Lovells as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office, the firm said. Fleury was a deputy chief trial counsel in the FTC's competition bureau, which she joined from the U.S. Justice Department in 2022. She was previously a senior Hogan Lovells associate.
Fleury spearheaded the agency's lawsuit that blocked a proposed merger between IQVIA IQV.N, a healthcare data and analytics firm, and DeepIntent, a healthcare advertising firm owned by Propel Media.
The FTC argued that the merger would harm competition and would lead to increased prices for consumers and hurt patients. A Manhattan federal judge agreed and halted the merger in December 2023, leading IQVIA and DeepIntent to abandonthe deal weeks later.
Antitrust scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions has increased under Joe Biden's presidency and FTC chair Lina Khan. A 2022 Reuters analysis found that the Biden administration launched more antitrust challenges in its first two years than in the first two years of either the Obama or Trump administrations.
Fleury said there is going to be a "level of increased antitrust scrutiny that will pertain no matter who is in the White House." She noted that the merger-filing requirements rule the FTCfinalized last week will outlast the Biden administration.
Fleury's experience "with the current commission's enforcement approach and her work on tech-related and health care antitrust cases will provide a fresh perspective," Logan Breed, who co-leads Hogan Lovells' antitrust, competition and economic regulation practice, said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the FTC declined to comment.
Fleury was also part of the FTC team that unsuccessfully opposed Xbox maker Microsoft's MSFT.O $69 billion acquisition of "Call of Duty" developer Activision Blizzard ATVI.O. The FTC has appealed its loss in that case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Reporting by David Thomas
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
