Bruce retired from Mintz in 2026. He was Chair of the firm's Antitrust Practice.
Experience
viewpoints
FTC Cautions States against Overbroad Regulation of Nurse Practitioners in Continued Effort to Promote Expanded Roles for Non-traditional Providers
March 12, 2014 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Farrah Short
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a well-established role in promoting competition in the health care industry through enforcement, study and advocacy. To that end, the agency actively urges the opening of health care markets to a broader range of providers.
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FTC Successfully Obtains Divestiture of Physician Group Previously Acquired by Hospital System
January 30, 2014 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler
In a significant groundbreaking victory, on January 24, 2014 after a bench trial, an Idaho federal district court judge upheld the FTC’s antitrust challenge to a hospital system’s (St. Luke’s) acquisition of a multispecialty physician group (Saltzer Medical Group) and ordered divestiture as a remedy.
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FTC Announces Annual HSR Thresholds Revision
January 17, 2014 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Farrah Short, Helen Kim
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on January 17, 2014 increased jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the HSR Act).
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Sixth Circuit Spoils Milk Processor’s Win by Reinstating Class Action Alleging Conspiracy to Restrict Milk Supply
January 8, 2014 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Farrah Short
The Sixth Circuit recently revived an antitrust class action alleging a conspiracy between a processed milk bottler, a raw milk supplier and a raw milk processor to restrict milk supply in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Food Lion, LLC v. Dean Foods Co., No. 12-5457 (6th Cir. Jan. 3, 2014) (In re Southeastern Milk Antitrust Litig.).
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Is There a Maverick in the House? The FTC’s Resolution of the Fidelity National Financial – Lender Processing Services Deal Suggests Commissioner Wright Is One
January 7, 2014 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Helen Kim
Under the antitrust merger guidelines, a maverick is a firm “that plays a disruptive role in the market to the benefit of customers.” In Washington political circles, a maverick often refers to a politician that does not hew faithfully to the party line.
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What a Difference 16 Years Can Make: FTC Approves Merger Between Office Superstore Giants Office Depot and OfficeMax
November 5, 2013 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Helen Kim
In 1997, most people thought of Amazon.com as mainly an online bookseller, you couldn't buy groceries at Wal-Mart or Target, and if you wanted floppy disks, VHS tapes, or a fax machine, you drove to your local Staples, OfficeMax, or Office Depot.
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Supreme Court Holds That Reverse Payment Patent Settlements Are Subject to Antitrust Scrutiny
June 21, 2013 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Rich Gervase
For over a decade, the antitrust enforcers at the Federal Trade Commission have challenged the type of patent settlement where a brand-name drug manufacturer pays a prospective generic manufacturer to settle patent challenges, and the generic manufacturer agrees not to bring its generic to market for a specified number of years.
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FTC Voids Confidentiality and Non-Compete Provisions in Non-Reportable Transaction and Requires Notification of All Future Transactions
April 5, 2013 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Farrah Short
Merger agreements often contain ancillary provisions that seem acceptable to the parties in the context of what they are obtaining from the transaction—and those provisions often do not get a hard look by antitrust legal advisors when the transaction is not reportable under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976 (“HSR Act”).
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Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Unforeseeability Bars Immunity Defense for Allegedly Anticompetitive Hospital Merger
February 21, 2013 | Advisory | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Farrah Short
On February 19, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that state-action immunity does not protect a state-created hospital authority from antitrust scrutiny over a proposed hospital merger where the anticompetitive effect of such merger was not a “foreseeable result” authorized by the state. FTC v. Phoebe Putney Health System, Inc., 568 U.S. ___ (2013).
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FTC Issues Favorable Clinical Integration Advisory Opinion to Norman, Oklahoma PHO
February 14, 2013 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Christi Braun
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), much attention has been paid to the antitrust treatment of Accountable Care Organizations, provider ventures contemplated by the ACA that the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice have said are, essentially, clinically integrated organizations.
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News & Press
Five Mintz Attorneys Recognized as ‘Top Authors’ by JD Supra
February 24, 2026|
JD Supra has recognized ten Mintz attorneys in its 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards. The awards recognize attorneys and firms whose articles on the JD Supra platform were most read by C-suite executives, in-house counsel, media, and other professionals during 2024.
How DOJ's Visa Debit Monopolization Suit May Unfold
October 28, 2024|
FTC Theories Of Harm After Anesthesia Co. Ruling
June 3, 2024|
The Capitol Forum Interviews Mintz's Bruce Sokler
April 22, 2024|
Are the Google, Amazon Suits This Generation's Microsoft?
November 26, 2023|
Thirteen Mintz Members Named To Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators List
September 11, 2023|
FTC Pharma Merger Digest May Offer Policy Clues
June 15, 2023|
FTC Shift In Compulsory Process Lends Staff More Clout
September 12, 2022|
Poultry Sector Wage-Fixing Case Shows Info Exchange Risks
August 31, 2022|
Private Equity On Notice Due To Vet Clinic FTC Settlement
June 16, 2022|
Five Mintz Attorneys Recognized as Client Service All-Stars by BTI
February 8, 2022|
Biden Enforcers Fail to Stem Rising Merger Tide
October 22, 2021|
Mintz Attorneys and Practices Recognized by Chambers USA 2020
April 24, 2020|
One Hundred Mintz Attorneys Ranked as Leaders by Best Lawyers 2020
August 15, 2019|
Mintz Recognized by Chambers USA 2019
April 26, 2019|
Antitrust Case against BCBS to Continue under Per Se Standard
February 1, 2019|
Chambers USA 2018 Ranks Mintz Attorneys & Practices
May 3, 2018|
Mintz Honored by JD Supra's 2018 Reader's Choice Awards
March 19, 2018|
Antitrust World Eyes Justices On AmEx Steering Case
February 23, 2018|
Hospital Consolidation
December 4, 2017|
What’s at Stake in the AmEx Merchant Rules Case?
October 16, 2017|
Physician Practice Acquisitions And Antitrust Scrutiny
September 19, 2017|
DOJ About-Face In High Court AmEx Case Has Attys Puzzled
August 9, 2017|
Chambers USA 2017 Ranks Mintz Attorneys & Practices
May 26, 2017|
Discord Between Ballad Health and the FTC
April 23, 2017|
Emboldened, the FTC Seems Ready to Fight More Mergers
November 21, 2016|
Chicago Hospital Case Could Hinge on Efficiency Argument
November 3, 2016|
Mintz Represents Seventh Generation, Inc. in Sale to Unilever
October 27, 2016|
FTC wins appeal to halt Penn State Hershey/PinnacleHealth merger
September 28, 2016|
Hospital Merger Stalls After FTC Court Win
September 27, 2016|
DOJ Loss In AmEx Case Could Imperil Hospital Steering Suit
September 27, 2016|
Six Mintz Members to Speak at 2016 IBA Annual Conference
September 12, 2016|
What Have Merchants Gained From Payment Card Litigation?
August 10, 2016|
5 Questions To Watch As DOJ Targets Carolinas HealthCare
June 13, 2016|
49 Mintz Attorneys Featured in Chambers USA 2016 Guide
May 31, 2016|
5 Ways to Ease the Pain of an Antitrust Review
May 23, 2016|
Rodeo Associations Fail to Rein in Each Other in Round 1
February 9, 2016|
Mintz’s Wins Significant Antitrust Case for C-SPAN
June 10, 2013|
Mintz Advises on Top Greentech Deal of 2012
January 8, 2013|
podcasts
Biden’s Executive Order on Antitrust Competition: What Does It Mean for the Health Care Industry?
July 19, 2021 | Podcast | By Bruce Sokler
Joe Miller and Bruce Sokler, Co-Chairs of Mintz's Antitrust Practice, discuss President Biden’s July 9 executive order, which called for a government-wide focus on antitrust competition issues and identified 72 initiatives across several industries.
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Events & Speaking
Panelist
Speaker
Speaker
Speaker
May
17
2018
Antitrust in Healthcare
American Bar Association and American Health Lawyers Association
The Ritz-Carlton Arlington, VA
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Speaker
Speaker
Moderator
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Apr
23
2015
Recent Insights
