Kotchen & Low LLP specializes
in a broad range of federal, state, and international
antitrust and competition-related issues, including
counseling, investigations, grand jury inquiries,
and litigation involving the following issues:
Anticompetitive
agreements, including assessing the existence
of or participation in agreements potentially
prohibited by antitrust laws, such as horizontal
and vertical restraints of trade, and analysis
of the market effects of such agreements;
Joint ventures,
including advising how to structure joint
ventures to minimize antitrust risk, analyzing
antitrust concerns regarding existing joint
ventures, and assessing whether existing ventures
may be viewed as collusive;
Pricing practices,
including analysis of the legality of bundled
pricing, minimum advertised prices, resale
price maintenance, below-cost pricing, and
price discrimination;
Refusals to
deal, including analysis of alleged group
boycotts and the legal risk of an entity deciding
not to supply, contract, distribute, or make
its facilities/services available to another
entity;
Market power,
including analysis of the legality of any
acquisition, maintenance, and exercise of
market power, as well as the determination
of the existence of market power;
Competitive
effects of business practices, including
analysis of whether business practices raise
antitrust issues by causing anticompetitive
effects – e.g., reduced output, higher
prices, reduced quality, or erecting barriers
to entry;
Mergers and
acquisitions, including analysis of the
legality of proposed or consummated mergers
and acquisitions, and advising how to structure
such transactions to minimize antitrust risk;
Patent misuse,
including analysis of the use of patents to
impede competitive threats, the acquisition
of patent rights from the Patent & Trademark
Office, and the purchase of patents from third
parties;
Potential outcomes
of investigations or litigation, including
analysis of potential outcomes of federal,
state, or international government investigations
as well as potential outcomes of ongoing antitrust
or competition-related litigation;
Corporate
compliance programs, including developing
or revising programs to ensure antitrust compliance
throughout a corporation.
Fraud >>
Kotchen & Low LLP specializes
in a broad range of fraud-related issues, including
counseling, investigations, grand jury inquiries,
and litigation involving:
Corporate fraud,
including analysis of business practices that
affect corporations that may be considered
fraudulent;
Health care
fraud, including analysis of qui
tam-related issues arising under the
False Claims Act and anti-kickback prohibitions;
Fraud on the
Patent and Trademark Office, including
analysis of the legality of the acquisition
of patent rights from the PTO;
Consumer
fraud, including analysis of advertising
claims or business practices that may be considered
fraudulent.
Litigation
>>
Kotchen & Low LLP specializes
in complex commercial litigation in federal court,
state court, and administrative actions. The firm
has expertise in litigating both class action
and non-class cases. Our attorneys have a track
record of success in defense, plaintiffs, and
administrative litigation. For example, we have
taken leadership roles in:
Defense litigation
(both class action and non-class cases) that
involved claims up to $1 billion, resulting
in favorable settlements or trial victory;
Plaintiffs litigation
(both class action and non-class cases) that
involved settlements up to $220 million;
Administrative litigation
within the Federal Trade Commission and Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, resulting in favorable
settlements or trial victory;
Successfully
developing and prosecuting, as well as defending,
novel antitrust theories, including conspiracy,
monopolization, attempted monopolization,
tying, and monopsony.
Government Agency
Representation >>
Kotchen & Low LLP specializes in representing
clients before federal and state government
agencies, including representing clients
before agencies conducting competition-related
investigations or inquiries (such as the
Federal Trade Commission, Department of
Justice, and state attorneys general)
and representing clients before Congress
and other political bodies.
Securities >>
Kotchen & Low LLP specializes in securities-related
issues, including issues involving Sarbanes-Oxley,
channel stuffing, and the appropriateness
of reflecting revenues, expenses, or
potential exposure in financial statements.
Advertising
>>
Kotchen & Low LLP specializes
in the appropriateness of proposed or actual advertising
claims, claims substantiation, and competitive effects
of unsubstantiated claims.
Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act >>
Kotchen & Low LLP
specializes in compliance counseling, investigations,
and litigation concerning the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act.
