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, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. 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 US 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 and consumer products
Trade associations and nonprofits

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 nonprofit 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, Kentucky.

Co-lead trial counsel in the 2020 jury trial of a nationwide class action alleging global price fixing in sales of capacitors.
Lead US 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 health care 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, health care, green energy, and high-tech manufacturing.

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FTC Proposed Settlement Requires Private Equity Firm to Divest Shares, Relinquish Potential Board Seat, and Other Expansive Remedies

August 21, 2023 | Blog | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Payton Thornton

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.

July 26, 2023 | Blog | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Farrah Short, Evelyn French, Sherwet H. Witherington, Payton Thornton

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.

June 28, 2023 | Blog | By Farrah Short, Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell

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.

June 6, 2023 | Blog | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Payton Thornton

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.”

May 9, 2023 | Advisory | By Marc Mantell, Robert Kidwell, Marina F. Rothberg

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.

April 13, 2023 | Blog | By Bruce Sokler, Joanne Hawana , Robert Kidwell, Benjamin Zegarelli

On April 13, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission put approximately 670 advertisers on notice that they should avoid deceiving consumers with advertisements that make product claims that cannot be backed up or substantiated.

January 3, 2023 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Farrah Short

This alert discusses the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, which was signed into law on December 29, 2022, and how it substantially increases merger filing fees under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.

October 21, 2022 | Blog | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Payton Thornton

The Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) recently announced that it has required several directors to resign from simultaneously serving on the corporate boards of competitor companies.

January 24, 2022 | Alert | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Farrah Short

This alert covers the FTC’s increased jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR Act), as amended.

January 19, 2022 | Blog | By Bruce Sokler, Robert Kidwell, Farrah Short

As has been expected, on January 18, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced in a joint press conference an initiative to review and revise the antitrust merger guidelines. In his competition Executive Order last summer, President Biden announced a policy calling for increased scrutiny of mergers. Against this backdrop, one would expect the effort would result in the toughening of standards over what currently is found in the existing guidelines.