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Robert G. Kidwell

Member

[email protected]

+1.202.661.8752

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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.

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.

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.
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viewpoints

The new HSR form, instructions, and implementing rules were announced yesterday and are set to take effect 90 days from publication in the Federal Register.

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On Monday, Judge Amit P. Mehta of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a 277-page opinion finding Google liable for monopolizing the general search services and general search text ads markets. 

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Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced increased jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the “HSR Act”), as amended. The FTC revises the thresholds annually based on changes in the gross national product. The new thresholds take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register and apply to all transactions closing on or after that date.

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Read about the FTC’s complaint against Automated AI and affiliated entities and individuals over AI-related misleading claims in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

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The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”), and the new proposed merger guidelines have all called out private equity transactions for particular scrutiny.
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The FTC and DOJ jointly published draft merger guidelines reflecting the agencies’ current aggressive approach to merger enforcement. In an article, Mintz Antitrust attorneys discuss the draft guidelines’ move away from the consumer welfare standard, lower thresholds for deals presumed to be illegal, and other key changes, including a focus on the effect of industry roll-ups.

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced this week its Notice of Proposed Rule Making, drafted in concurrence with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), that, if implemented would result in significant and burdensome changes to the U.S. merger review process.

 

 

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The Federal Trade Commission, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, recently released a summary of the Agencies’ June 2022 joint workshop titled “The Future of Pharmaceuticals: Examining the Analysis of Pharmaceutical Mergers.”

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Amid ongoing growth in global M&A, buyers evaluating cross-border opportunities need to weigh many issues. Mintz M&A and antitrust attorneys look at considerations for European companies and private equity funds seeking targets in the United States, including US deal structures, antitrust regulations, and deal-reporting requirements.

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News & Press

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Mintz is pleased to share 10 attorneys have been named by their clients as Thomson Reuters “Stand-out Lawyers.”

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San Francisco Managing Member Stephen Osborn and Member Robert Burwell led Mintz’s advisory team in facilitating a transformative combination for Muse Group with Hal Leonard, securing growth investment from Francisco Partners. This impactful collaboration merges Muse’s leadership in music content and creation with Hal Leonard’s renowned sheet music and music-learning expertise. The deal underscores Mintz’s commitment to supporting innovative technology companies in the Bay Area’s Private Equity landscape.

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Mintz is representing Future Electronics in an all-cash, $3.8 billion sale targeted to close in the first half of 2024. Mintz M&A Members Daniel Follansbee and Ran Zioni led a multi-office team that included Special Counsel Nicholas Perricone, plus Associates and Antitrust, Debt Financing, and Employment Members. Toronto MP Mitch Frazer and other Partners provided Canadian guidance.

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Law360 published an article jointly authored by Antitrust Co-chairs, Bruce Sokler and Joseph Miller, alongside Member Robert Kidwell examining the FTC's summary of the June 2022 joint workshop with the Antitrust Division of the US Justice Department titled "The Future of Pharmaceuticals: Examining the Analysis of Pharmaceutical Mergers."

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BOSTON– Mintz represented Gradiant Corporation, a global end-to-end solutions provider of advanced water and wastewater treatment, in its Series D financing.

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Members Marc Mantell and Robert Kidwell, and associate Marina Rothberg co-authored an article published by Law360 discussing cross-border M&A activity and predictions for the upcoming year.

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Member Robert Kidwell spoke to Foreign Investment Watch about the Senate's introduction of legislation known as the RESTRICT ACT that would acknowledge the "ongoing threat" presented by foreign adversaries' technology.

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An article published by The Deal featured remarks made by Mintz Member and Co-chair of the firm’s Antitrust Practice Bruce Sokler, Member Robert Kidwell, and Special Counsel Farrah Short during a firm webinar held earlier this month focused on recent antitrust developments and what companies should know as they conduct business and plan transactions and investments.
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Mintz Member and Co-chair of the firm’s Sports & Entertainment Practice Tyrone Thomas and Member in the firm's Antitrust Practice Robert Kidwell co-authored a Bloomberg Law Insights column providing analysis on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston on restrictions on athletes’ education-related benefits, which they wrote leads to a “what now” moment for colleges across the nation.
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Firm plays a key role in the largest health care acquisition to date in 2020.
Though merger reviewers at the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are back at work after the 30+ day government shutdown, antitrust experts note that backlog and the possibility of another shutdown are significantly impacting the certainty merging parties rely on. Mintz Member Rob Kidwell is among the industry sources quoted.

This article in The Boston Globe looks at how a law – signed in August and which took effect in November – is impacting Boston’s start-up community. The specific law is the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and it requires foreign entities investing in U.S. companies in 27 “critical” industries to be properly documented with CFIUS at the risk of penalties.
This feature article looks at the potential increased scrutiny hospitals may face from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in terms of anticompetitive behavior. Rob Kidwell, an antitrust Member with Mintz, is among the industry sources providing commentary.
A team of Mintz attorneys - Mike Renaud, Rob Kidwell and Rob Moore - authored this issues response op-ed discussing the Department of Justice's (DOJ) statements on intellectual property rights, "the New Madison Approach." This approach marks a return to the core principles on which the patent laws are predicated.
Mintz is pleased to announce that eight attorneys have been named Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers for 2018 and three others have been named Washington, D.C. Rising Stars. The annual publication identifies lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.
Chair of Mintz’s Antitrust section Bruce Sokler, along with Member Rob Kidwell and attorneys, Farrah Short Shawn Skolky collaborated on an article regarding the Washington state attorney general’s office suit against the expansion efforts of Franciscan Health System.  
Eight Mintz attorneys have been named Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers for 2017 and four have been named Washington, D.C. Rising Stars. The list will be published in a special advertising supplement in The Washington Post Magazine and in a stand-alone magazine, Washington D.C. Super Lawyers Magazine.
Mintz attorneys Michael Renaud, Robert Kidwell, and Robert Moore discuss the FTC’s suit against Qualcomm in the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California as well as the timing of the lawsuit and specifics of the FTC’s complaints against said company. 
A team of Mintz attorneys author this column discussing the Korean Fair Trade Commission’s steep fine against Qualcomm for antitrust violations and the continued antitrust concerns raised by Qualcomm’s licensing practices.
Robert G. Kidwell, Member of Mintz's Antitrust and Federal Regulatory Practice, is participating in a panel discussion at the 2016 Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting. Mr. Kidwell will discuss the increasing pressure on health care providers to rein in escalating costs.
Mintz Members Bruce Sokler and Robert Kidwell, and Special Counsel Farrah Short, authored this Law360 column about the war being waged between businesses that accept payment cards and payment card fees and protective network rules.
Mintz Member Robert Kidwell is quoted in this Law360 article discussing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to not review the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ finding that McWane Inc. maintained monopoly power through a rebate policy.
Members Peter Saparoff and Robert Kidwell and Associates Joel Rothman and Kevin Mortimer authored this ABA’s Section of Litigation column on the trend of plaintiff investors filing a growing number of class action cases against financial institutions alleging violations of U.S. antitrust laws.
Seven Mintz attorneys have been named Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers for 2015 and five have been named Washington, D.C. Rising Stars. The list will be published in a special advertising supplement in Washington Post Magazine and in a stand-alone Washington D.C. Super Lawyers Magazine.
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Events & Speaking

Speaker
Nov
16
2016
Speaker
Speaker
Jun
14
2016

OHA 2016 Annual Meeting & Education Summit

Ohio Hospital Association

Hilton Columbus at Easton, Columbus, OH

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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.

Recognition & Awards

  • Washington DC Super Lawyers: Rising Star – Antitrust Litigation (2013 – 2014)

  • Washington DC Super Lawyers: Antitrust Litigation (2017 - 2019)

  • Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyers (2024)

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