
Rob’s Washington, DC-based competition and trade regulation practice involves counseling on the competitive implications of business strategies, regulatory matters, and litigation. He defends clients in complex litigation and in merger and regulatory reviews by agencies such as the US Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US. Rob’s clients include media and telecommunications companies, health systems and providers, national retailers, trade associations, life sciences companies, and technology companies.
Rob specializes in clearly explaining strategic risks and their relative values in order to help senior executives make informed decisions. He provides advice to clients from across the country and around the world in high-profile matters including:
- Complex litigation (class action and otherwise)
- Antitrust issues in mergers and acquisitions / second requests
- Strategic business planning and risk management
- Regulatory issues arising from foreign investments in U.S. businesses (particularly Chinese investment)
- Federal and state regulatory investigations
- Policy advocacy and notice-and-comment rulemaking
- Appellate review of agency action
- Trade association counseling
- Privacy and data security
- Consumer protection and unfair/deceptive trade practices
Rob represents clients in numerous markets, including:
- Media content and distribution
- Wireless communications
- Health care providers and services
- Life sciences
- Technology
- Retail & Consumer Products
- Trade associations and non-profits
He has written and spoken widely on litigation risk management and cost containment and on issues faced by businesses when they interact with federal and state enforcers and administrative agencies.
Rob is an active supporter of the firm’s pro bono program, providing representation to numerous indigent clients before the Social Security Administration and in local family and domestic relations courts. He has provided corporate and business planning advice to the National Network to End Domestic Violence and other non-profit clients. He is also an active supporter of the firm’s mentoring and sponsorship program.
Prior to his career in the law, Rob was an on-air radio personality and station production director in Lexington, KY.
Education
- Georgetown University (JD)
- University of Kentucky (BA)
Experience
- Co-lead trial counsel in the 2020 jury trial of a nationwide class action alleging global price fixing in sales of capacitors.
- Lead U.S. antitrust counsel for Qiagen N.V. in its $11 billion sale to Thermo Fisher Scientific, announced in March 2020.
- Successfully represented a global contract manufacturer before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in its 2020 acquisition by a Chinese investor.
- Serves as ongoing antitrust counsel to one of the nation’s largest and most respected integrated physician/hospital provider network on matters including mergers, affiliations, investigations, and litigation.
- Represented the nation’s premier retail pharmacy chain in its $27 billion industry-transforming acquisition of a “big three” pharmacy benefits manager.
- Serves as ongoing antitrust counsel to several of the world’s leading genetic and molecular diagnostic test developers and providers.
- Lead counsel for three separate cable operators in sprawling multidistrict litigation involving more than 30 separate suits filed around the country relating to the alleged tying of cable set-top boxes to certain cable services.
- Serves as ongoing antitrust counsel to one of the world’s largest and most recognizable brands in healthcare equipment and technology.
- Serves as ongoing antitrust, regulatory, and litigation counsel to several of the nation’s leading cable, media, and wireless telecommunications companies and trade associations.
- Provides ongoing antitrust and foreign investment counsel to dozens of early-stage companies in biotech, healthcare, green energy, and high-tech manufacturing.
Recognition & Awards
- Washington DC Super Lawyers: Rising Star – Antitrust Litigation (2013 – 2014)
- Washington DC Super Lawyers: Antitrust Litigation (2017 - 2019)