Dechert has strengthened its transatlantic antitrust practice with the hire of a trio of senior partners from US rival Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. 

John Jurata, the former head of Orrick’s antitrust and competition group, has joined Dechert in Washington DC alongside Russell Cohen in San Francisco and Douglas Lahnborg in London. The trio bring significant antitrust experience and have represented clients including Microsoft, Sonos and Netflix in antitrust litigation and investigations. 

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Jay, Russ and Douglas, particularly at a time when antitrust activity in the high-tech industry continues to increase globally,” said Mike Cowie, co-chair of Dechert’s antitrust and competition practice. “The expanded antitrust capabilities this team brings to our Washington DC, San Francisco and London offices will be an enormous asset for industry leaders and for the firm.”

The trio had been partners at Orrick since 2008, which they joined around around the time that their former firm, San Francisco-based Heller Ehrman, filed for bankruptcy. 

Jurata’s litigation practice focuses on technology platforms and issues at the intersection of antitrust and IP. Recognized by Chambers USA as a leading antitrust litigator, he has represented major players in the technology industry including Zillow, LG and Panasonic and prior to practicing as a lawyer spent seven years as a surface warfare officer in the US Navy. 

Cohen is likewise an experienced litigator and represents high-tech companies in antitrust and unfair competition disputes. He also maintains an active commercial litigation practice handling complex disputes for Silicon Valley and other technology industry companies, often in the funds space. 

Cohen is the seventh partner to join Dechert’s San Francisco office in the past 18 months; the firm said his hire underscored its commitment to the growth of its interdisciplinary corporate, litigation and financial services offerings in California. 

Meantime Lahnborg founded the Brussels office during his time at Orrick and also led the firm’s London office. He represents global technology companies in cross-border matters before the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority and often works alongside Jurata. His practice spans merger control, abuse of dominance and private damages actions. 

“Dechert has a premier transatlantic antitrust practice; its platform will strengthen our global relationships with our clients,” said Lahnborg. “While I will be focused on expanding Dechert’s antitrust capabilities on the ground in the UK and in Brussels, I have been impressed by the accomplishments of my future colleagues in both Europe and the US, and I am eager to collaborate with them.”

Dechert’s 42-strong antitrust team is spread across the firm’s offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington DC. Recent wins for the team include a landmark jury verdict in a class action for Endo Pharmaceuticals following a three-week federal trial and obtaining a favorable resolution for Marriott International following five days of a jury trial.

An Orrick spokesperson thanked the departing trio for their contributions to the firm and wished them the best, adding that Washington DC-based partner Amy Ray has succeeded Jurata as head of the firm’s antitrust and competition practice. 

Orrick has moved to build its own antitrust bench recently, last November hiring Anna Aryankalayil, who most recently served as attorney adviser to former Commissioner Noah Phillips of the Federal Trade Commission, as a partner in Washington DC. And earlier in the year partners Eileen Cole and Craig Falls joined the antitrust team in DC from White & Case and Dechert respectively. 

Orrick has also made significant investments in its federal and state regulatory capabilities, including a combination that closed last week with the 100-laywer Washington DC based law firm, Buckley.  The combination added a market-leading practice in regulatory, enforcement, litigation and white collar matters for the financial services and fintech sectors.

Another US law firm to boost its transatlantic antitrust capability recently was Cooley, which last spring added the co-chair of CMS' competition and trade practice, Caroline Dobson, in London and the chair of Quinn Emanuel's antitrust investigations and government enforcement team, Ethan Glass, in Washington DC. Around the same time the global head of Linklaters’ antitrust and foreign investment group, Jonas Koponen, joined the firm in Brussels.