Brad Weber, a partner in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Business Litigation Practice Group, was quoted in the February 28, 2025 The National Law Journal article, “FTC, DOJ Keep Biden-Era Merger Rules Under Trump.”

Troutman Pepper Locke partner Brad Weber agreed that rewriting merger guidelines is a big undertaking that would take a lot of time and resources for the commission to accomplish. He added that the guidelines are not law.

“They can always use the current guidelines and just not follow all of them,” Weber said. “They can still make decisions on mergers that maybe inconsistent with some of the framework within the guidelines and just decide they’re not going to follow it.”

But Weber, of Troutman Pepper Locke, said the Biden-era HSR rules are more onerous to comply with and are increasing the legal costs for parties.

“A lot of us were hoping that once the Republicans took control of the FTC and DOJ that they might rescind those new rules, but public statements have indicated that that’s not the case,” he said.

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