To the public dismay of AT&T’s chief executive Randall Stephenson and general counsel David McAtee, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has filed a lawsuit to block the company’s $85bn takeover of Time Warner, in a decision described by McAtee as an ‘inexplicable departure from decades of antitrust precedent’. The DoJ insists that the deal would be likely to harm competition. A court battle looms.
The Legal 500’s Who Represents Who data shows both companies have engaged a broad range of law firms on a host of instructions in recent years, though the would-be-combined media giants have little in common in terms of who they turn to for advice, with only Arent Fox issued instructions for both in 2015 and 2016 in the same sector (TMT).
While Time Warner’s recent antitrust work has involved White & Case and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, AT&T has well-established relationships with Sidley Austin, Sullivan & Cromwell and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, all three of which firms are highly ranked by The Legal 500 for merger control/antitrust work.
David Burgess, Publishing Director, The Legal 500
legal500.com/wrw
david.burgess@legal500.com
2014
AT&T
| Dispute resolution |
Employment |
Finance |
Insurance |
Intellectual property |
Real estate and construction |
TMT |
Tax |
|---|
| King & Spalding |
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius |
Norton Rose Fulbright |
Gardere Wynne Sewell |
Duane Morris |
Holland & Knight |
Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton |
King & Spalding |
| Mayer Brown |
|
|
|
Vinson & Elkins |
Brown Rudnick |
Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg |
Mayer Brown |
| Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman |
|
|
|
Cantor Colburn |
|
|
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman |
Time Warner
| Employment |
TMT |
Tax |
|---|
| Groom Law Group |
Fowler White Boggs |
Hogan Lovells |
| Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel |
|
Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp |
| Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe |
|
Morrison & Foerster |
|
|
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman |
|
|
Katten Muchin Rosenman |
2015
AT&T
| Dispute resolution |
Employment |
Finance |
Insurance |
Intellectual property |
Real estate and construction |
TMT |
|---|
| Sidley Austin |
McGuireWoods |
Linklaters |
Reed Smith |
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld |
Holland & Knight |
Kenyon & Kenyon |
| Baker Botts |
|
Norton Rose Fulbright |
|
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher |
|
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips |
| Paul Hastings |
|
|
|
McKool Smith |
|
Andrews Kurth |
| Jones Day |
|
|
|
Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell |
|
Arent Fox |
|
|
|
|
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft |
|
Arnold & Porter |
|
|
|
|
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman |
|
Wiley Rein |
Time Warner
| Antitrust |
Corporate and commercial |
Employment |
Insurance |
Intellectual property |
M&A |
Real estate and construction |
Tax |
TMT |
|---|
| Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher |
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips |
McDermott Will & Emery |
Kelley Drye & Warren |
Richards Layton & Finger |
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom |
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson |
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney |
Jenner & Block |
|
|
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel |
|
Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck |
|
|
Debevoise & Plimpton |
Kaye Scholer |
|
|
Ford Harrison |
|
Weil, Gotshal & Manges |
|
|
O’Melveny & Myers |
Proskauer Rose |
|
|
Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp |
|
Loeb & Loeb |
|
|
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton |
Venable |
|
|
Vedder Price |
|
|
|
|
& Garrison |
Cahill Gordon & Reindel |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan |
Cravath, Swaine & Moore |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shearman & Sterling |
Dechert |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Morrison & Foerster |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Arent Fox |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton |
2016
AT&T
| Dispute resolution |
Employment |
Finance |
Insurance |
Intellectual property |
TMT |
|---|
| Andrews Kurth |
Dickinson Wright |
Kaye Scholer |
Reed Smith |
McKool Smith |
Sidley Austin |
| Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton |
Mayer Brown |
Linklaters |
|
Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell |
Arent Fox |
| Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher |
McGuireWoods |
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft |
|
Baker Botts |
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips |
| Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman |
Williams, Kastner & Gibbs |
Norton Rose Fulbright |
|
|
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr |
|
Paul Hastings |
Sullivan & Cromwell |
|
|
Wiley Rein |
Time Warner
| Antitrust |
Dispute resolution |
Employment |
Finance |
Government |
M&A |
Real estate and construction |
Tax |
TMT |
|---|
| White & Case |
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr |
McDermott Will & Emery |
Shearman & Sterling |
Dentons |
McGuireWoods |
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson |
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan |
Arent Fox |
| Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher |
Dechert |
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison |
|
|
|
|
|
Venable |
|
|
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe |
|
|
|
|
|
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo |
|
|
Davis & Gilbert |
|
|
|
|
|
Cravath, Swaine & Moore |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Latham & Watkins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proskauer Rose |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom |
Key
Blue box= Law firm instructed that year by both companies in different sectors
Green box = Law firm instructed that year by both companies in the same sector