Annual Antitrust CLE Event – 2024

Thursday, December 5 • 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET

Troutman Pepper and Locke Lord are excited to invite you to our Annual Antitrust CLE event, where U.S. and international presenters will offer an in-depth look at significant antitrust developments and provide practical guidance to help you minimize and manage risks.

The event will feature five panels (4.5 hours substantive and 1 hour ethics). The panels will encourage audience participation and engagement with our distinguished group of presenters. Panelists will cover current non-merger and merger enforcement, potential changes under the next administration, and recent international competition law developments. Discussions will also cover the impact of recent unilateral conduct guidance, the antitrust risks that arise working with vendors or other intermediaries, and questions about professional responsibility rules and licensing in the legal profession.

8:00 a.m. | Registration and Breakfast

8:30 a.m. | Opening Remarks

8:35 a.m. | Where Do We Stand Now and What Could the Next Administration Bring?
Our panelists will consider whether the agencies have followed through on a variety of non-merger conduct and whether companies will need to continue to be focused on such behavior. Whether the Robinson-Patman Act is really back? Does the FTC’s effort to ban non-competes end with the presidential election? Will Section 5 Policy Statement’s “coercive, exploitative, collusive, abusive, deceptive, predatory” standard survive? Whether DOJ has defined a Section 2 criminal violation?

• Michael J. Hartman, Troutman Pepper
• Jeremy Heep, Troutman Pepper
• A. Christopher Young, Troutman Pepper
• Julian N. Weiss, Troutman Pepper

9:35 a.m. | International Transactions
An experienced panel of international competition law attorneys will discuss the latest developments in Canada, Europe, and the United States and the practical implications of those developments. The panel will also consider how political change might impact transactions.

• Davit Akman, Cassels, Brock & Blackwell (Toronto)
• Gerrit Oosterhuis, Houthoff (Brussels & Amsterdam)
• Barbara T. Sicalides, Troutman Pepper

11:15 a.m. | The “Dreaded” Intermediaries
U.S. antitrust enforcement agencies have been increasingly critical of the role of intermediaries in the economy. This panel of experienced antitrust lawyers will discuss the growing antitrust risks of working with the vendors or intermediaries, from artificial intelligence and software to benchmarking, group purchasing organizations and pharmacy benefits managers. Is transparency good or bad and how can advisors reduce the antitrust risk of working with intermediaries?

• Melissa O’Donnell, Troutman Pepper
• Robin P. Sumner, Troutman Pepper
• Bradley Weber, Locke Lord
• Robert Jenkin, Troutman Pepper

12:15 p.m. | Networking Lunch

1:00 p.m. | Unilateral Conduct: Companies in the Danger Zone?
U.S. and international antitrust attorneys will discuss how recent guidance from antitrust authorities and the courts shifted how companies face refusal to deal, exclusivity, tying, and other potential exclusionary conduct.

• Jason D. Evans, Troutman Pepper
• James H.S. Levine, Troutman Pepper
• Brian Sher, CMS (London)
• Julie Webb, Locke Lord

2:10 p.m. | Ethics – The Legal Profession’s Monopoly
Do the professional responsibility rules and licensing requirements perpetuate injustice?

• Randall A. Hack, Locke Lord
• Kasia Hebda, Troutman Pepper
• Kaitlin L. Meola, Troutman Pepper

3:10 p.m. | Networking Reception