Orrick has boosted its antitrust and competition team in Washington DC with the addition of a partner duo from White & Case and Dechert.

Eileen Cole has joined the San Francisco-based firm after 20 years at White & Case and Craig Falls after 15 at Dechert. Both bring antitrust litigation and M&A regulatory experience in the life sciences sector, which Orrick said adds to its bench as antitrust becomes a greater focus of enforcement and corporate strategy in the tech, life sciences and energy sectors. 

Cole is an antitrust litigator with a record litigating complex enforcement matters before the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division and the US Federal Trade Commission. She represents corporate and individual clients in criminal investigations and regularly litigates cases at the intersection of IP and antitrust. Her experience also includes global cartel investigations and pharmaceutical antitrust cases.

Falls meanwhile guides companies on securing antitrust clearances for mergers and acquisitions and defending such transactions in litigation, particularly in the life sciences sector. He also advises clients in structuring joint ventures, licensing arrangements and other commercial agreements to minimise antitrust risk and in investigations and litigation alleging exclusionary conduct, including with respect to the use of IP.

“There’s little doubt that we are entering an era where antitrust considerations will demand heightened focus whether as a strategic question in evaluating business opportunities, revisiting the rules for acceptable business behavior, or a competitive tactic in the most innovative spaces,” said Jay Jurata, head of Orrick’s global antitrust practice, adding: “We are thrilled to be expanding our team with Eileen and Craig and look forward to building the team further to meet our clients’ needs.” 

The firm’s antitrust clients include Microsoft, Zillow, Sonos, ANI Pharmaceuticals and ACV Auctions. 

Anne Murray, co-head of Orrick’s life sciences practice, said the firm has hired 11 partners globally focused in finance, capital markets and M&A, licensing, patent prosecution and white collar defense over the past two years to build its offering for the life sciences sector.

“We are excited to add Eileen’s extensive experience in antitrust enforcement for pharmaceutical companies and Craig’s experience in merger review in life sciences,” she added.

Among those the firm has hired in its life sciences push is patent prosecution lawyer Gargi Talukder, who joined the firm in its San Francisco headquarters from Morgan Lewis & Bockius last March.

Her arrival followed the hiring of life sciences expert and capital markets lawyer David Schulman in Washington from Dechert last January. The firm also added life sciences licensing lawyer Shana Solomon in Boston from biotech startup Velocity Sciences in September 2020, where she was general counsel.

Also kicking off 2022 with investment in its competition practice is Allen & Overy, which has secured Sidley Austin's global co-head of antitrust, London-based Kristina Nordlander.