Steven C. Sunshine is a Partner and Head of Global Antitrust and Competition Group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He represents clients in connection with antitrust aspects of mergers and acquisitions, litigation, counseling and grand jury investigations. He regularly appears before courts in connection with antitrust civil matters and before the U.S. and European antitrust authorities. Mr. Sunshine has led antitrust representations in numerous M&A transactions, including Sprint/T-Mobile; HPE/Cray; Visa/Plaid; DoorDash/Caviar; Intel/Apple; NXP/Qualcomm; Embraer/Boeing; Becton Dickinson/C.R. Bard; Nokia/Alcatel-Lucent; Intel/Mobileye; Cardinal/Medtronics; Yahoo!/Verizon; HP/Samsung sale of printers; Broadcom/Avago; Plum Creek/Weyerhaeuser; Freescale/NXP; Anheuser-Busch/Grupo Modelo; Sprint/Clearwire; Air Products/Evonik; SanDisk/Western Digital; Southwest/AirTran; Gilead/Pharmasett; SanDisk/ Fusion-io; Rite-Aid/Envision; Cisco/Tandberg; Exelon/Constellation and Pepco; Duke/Progress Energy; Corning/Becton Dickinson Labware; Valeant/Allergan, Medicis and Bausch & Lomb; Jet Aviation/General Dynamics; Actavis/Forest and Warner Chilcott; Rockwood/Elementis; and De Beers/Louis Vuitton. Mr. Sunshine is recognized as a leading antitrust practitioner and is repeatedly listed in Best of the Best USA as one of the top competition lawyers in the world and in Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America. He also was named to the 2018 Lawdragon Hall of Fame, which recognizes past members of the Lawdragon 500 who have made remarkable contributions as leaders in their field. He was named by The National Law Journal as a 2020 Winning Litigator and previously as one of the publication’s Trailblazers, honoring lawyers who have advanced their legal practice areas through the use of innovative strategies. He regularly is selected for inclusion in Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Who’s Who Legal and The Best Lawyers in America, and named as a leading lawyer by Legal 500. Mr. Sunshine repeatedly has been named as a Law360 MVP in the competition category (including 2020), a Litigator of the Week by The Am Law Litigation Daily and a finalist for Global Competition Review’s Antitrust Lawyer of the Year. The Financial Times report on U.S. Innovative Lawyers recognized his work on Sprint v. AT&T as a Standout litigation matter. He also has been repeatedly cited as a Star by LMG Life Sciences.
Nominee, 2022 Antitrust Writing Awards: Academic, Mergers
Nominee, 2019 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, General Antitrust.
Nominee, 2018 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Concerted Practices
Winner, 2016 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Mergers
Nominee, 2015 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Intellectual Property.
Winner, 2014 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Unilateral Conduct.
Nominee, 2012 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, General Antitrust
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a draft of proposed new merger guidelines today, 18 months after FTC Chair Lina Khan and Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter announced plans to “modernize” the agencies’ approach to (...)
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On June 28, 2021, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Facebook’s motions to dismiss two parallel antitrust complaints filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a group of state enforcers. The complaints accused Facebook of illegally (...)
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On September 3, 2020, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (the DOJ) issued its new Merger Remedies Manual (the Manual), which provides the framework the DOJ will utilize going forward to implement relief in mergers reviewed by its attorneys and economists. The DOJ has updated its (...)
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On August 11, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decisively reversed the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC or Commission) controversial district court win challenging Qualcomm’s licensing practices. In rejecting every aspect of the lower court’s decision, the Ninth Circuit (...)
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Antitrust-Related Considerations Collaborations With Competitors Companies seeking to collaborate with competitors in response to the COVID-19 crisis must keep in mind, as the Department of Justice has recently cautioned, that the antitrust laws remain in effect, and agreements among (...)
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In a continuation of recent Department of Justice (DOJ) successes challenging mergers, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently enjoined two more proposed mergers brought and litigated under the Obama administration. Aetna’s $37 billion proposed acquisition of Humana was (...)
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This article has been nominated for the 2016 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. On September 24, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio denied the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) bid to enjoin Steris Corporation (...)
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On August 13, 2015, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued formal guidance on Section 5 enforcement consisting of a general statement of principles to guide application of its authority to challenge “unfair methods of competition” under Section 5 of the FTC Act. While it is generally (...)
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The Electronic Intellectual Property Center of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released a draft “Template for Intellectual Property Policies in Industry Standardization Organizations” (the Draft Template), seeking public comments by January 30. The Draft (...)
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On September 8, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a federal antitrust complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against defendants AbbVie, Abbott Laboratories, Unimed Pharmaceuticals, Besins Healthcare and Teva Pharmaceuticals alleging (...)
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On April 22, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit handed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) another significant victory in a hospital merger, ruling that the FTC’s decision and order requiring that ProMedica divest St. Luke’s, another Lucas County, (...)
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This article has been nominated for the 2014 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. Thoughts On Google’s FTC Settlement On Jan. 3, 2013, the Federal Trade Commission ended its highly publicized and wide-ranging investigation into Google (...)
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On September 20, Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California handed down sentences to AU Optronics Corporation and two company executives, following their convictions in March for participating in a global price-fixing conspiracy involving LCD screens used in computers and (...)
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This article has been nominated for the 2012 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. On June 20, 2011, in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision holding that discrimination claims on behalf of (...)
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On November 15, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a proposed consent agreement to address the agency’s allegations that the $3.1 billion acquisition of Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. by Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) would reduce competition in the provision of acute inpatient (...)
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On August 4, 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it entered into an agreement with Intel Corporation to resolve a much-hyped administrative complaint filed on December 16, 2009. The FTC’s complaint against Intel was filed under Section 5 of the FTC Act, shortly after the (...)
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On April 20, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released and sought public comment on proposed, revised Horizontal Merger Guidelines (guidelines) that reflect how the agencies evaluate the potential competitive effects of mergers and acquisitions between firms (...)
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On March 29, 2010, Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg upheld antitrust lawsuits filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and private plaintiffs against drug maker Cephalon, Inc. (Cephalon), alleging that Cephalon conspired with four generic drug manufacturers to delay generic competition for the (...)
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On February 22, 2010, Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. dismissed the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust lawsuit alleging that Solvay Pharmaceuticals (Solvay) conspired with generic drug makers Watson Pharmaceuticals (Watson) and Par Pharmaceuticals (Par) to delay generic competition for the (...)
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On January 21, 2010, after a three-year and four-month investigation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $900,000 settlement with meat processors Smithfield Foods Inc. and Premium Farms LLC to resolve DOJ allegations that Smithfield exercised operational control over Premium (...)
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On April 27, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission adopted final rules amending Parts 3 and 4 of its Rules of Practice. The adoption of these rules is a culmination of efforts going back a couple of years to make changes that would expedite adjudications of allegedly anti-competitive merger (...)
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On April 8, 2009, the English High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, granted British Airways’ request for an order striking two Plaintiffs’ representative claims. Though still subject to appeal, this decision potentially represents a significant obstacle to efforts underway to apply (...)
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On March 18, 2009, Judge Collyer of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia released the public version of a significant opinion supporting her order granting the FTC a preliminary injunction in connection with the proposed $1.4 billion merger of CCC Information Systems (...)
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Continuing a trend of increasing aggressiveness in antitrust enforcement, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking disgorgement in a challenge to Ovation Pharmaceutical Inc.’s acquisition of the drug NeoProfen®, filed in the Minnesota District Court on Dec. 16, 2008. In the past, the FTC (...)
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On July 29, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the denial of a preliminary injunction sought by the FTC against a merger of Whole Foods Market, Inc. and Wild Oats Markets, Inc., in a ruling that significantly lowers the bar for the FTC to obtain preliminary (...)
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Inova Health System Foundation (Inova) and Prince William Health System, Inc. (PWHS) announced today that they will abandon their proposed merger. This announcement comes after the Federal Trade Commission sought to preliminarily enjoin the merger so that it could conduct a “Fast Track” (...)
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On April 22, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held in Rambus Inc. v. FTC, No. 07-1086, that the FTC failed to prove that Rambus Inc. violated antitrust law when it participated in a trade organization’s setting of industry technology standards without (...)
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In a 7-2 decision on May 21, 2007, the Supreme Court held that a complaint alleging antitrust conspiracy based on parallel conduct alone fails to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, No. 05-1126. Further, the Court held that a bare (...)
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On April 2, 2007, the Antitrust Modernization Commission (“AMC”) released its Report and Recommendations to Congress and President Bush. The bipartisan AMC was commissioned by the Modernization Act of 2002 to examine whether antitrust law needed to be modernized, solicit views from interested (...)
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On February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a significant opinion in which it concluded that the test it had set forth previously to govern predatory pricing cases applies also to cases involving allegations of predatory bidding. See Weyerhaeuser Co. v. Ross-Simmons Hardwood Lumber Co., (...)
