Downey Law in the News

The 2022 edition of Chambers USA ranks Alicia Downey among leading antitrust lawyers in Massachusetts. According to the accompanying review, “Alicia Downey is an experienced antitrust attorney with a niche practice focused on advising clients on their corporate relationships, including interactions with distribution partners and competitors.” Chambers USA’s legal rankings are based on in-depth market analysis and independent research, conducted by a experienced team of researchers.

For decades the FTC relied on its adjudicatory authority, applying its expertise on a case-by-case basis in administrative litigation, but now, FTC leadership seems to be shifting away from litigation to “legislative-style” rulemaking. What does that mean in practical terms? In this episode, co-hosts Jana Seidl and Alicia Downey speak with Adam White, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and co-director of George Mason University’s Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, about what FTC rulemaking looks like and what we can expect. Listen to this episode to learn more about how FTC rulemaking started, how it evolved, recent changes to the process, and where the FTC may be headed with rulemaking. Click here to access the podcast.

Competition enforcement authorities all over the world are bringing cases and enforcing new rules against Google, and as different jurisdictions impose widely different penalties and restrictions, it’s debatable whether those remedies have had the desired effects. So what are the best ways to address the perceived abuses of Google’s dominance? Co-hosts Melissa Maxman and Alicia Downey get the answers from Megan Gray, the former General Counsel of one of Google’s leading competitors, DuckDuckGo. Listen to this episode to learn more about the challenges that governments face in trying to address the competition and privacy issues raised by Google’s dominance among search engines. Click here to access the podcast.

Alicia Downey is the author of “Antitrust Considerations,” Chapter 9 of a newly published treatise entitled, “Organizing, Financing, and Advising a Massachusetts Business.” Published by MCLE New England in a variety of formats, this publication addresses a variety of formational, operational, and legal aspects of a Massachusetts business entity, most of which are commonly the province of both in-house counsel and lawyers for corporations. Chapters touch on critical aspects of the choice of entity, taxation, fiduciary duties of officers and directors, allocation of interests, contracting with and compensating employees, real estate and environmental issues, antitrust considerations, the disposition of proprietary property, venture capital, and debt financing, going public, and dissolution.

Antitrust enforcers, academics, and politicians are embroiled in a debate over whether the consumer welfare standard is the right policy for antitrust enforcement in the U.S. What are they fighting about and why does it matter? In this episode, we talk to Fiona Schaeffer and Ilana Kattan, two prominent antitrust practitioners and leaders in the ABA Antitrust Law Section, about what the consumer welfare standard is, and why it is the subject of intense debate in the US and globally. Listen to this episode to learn how the outcome of that debate will have significant ramifications for business conduct, mergers, and the U.S. economy as a whole. Click here to access the podcast.

Knowing that few people have the time or resources to initiate arbitration over relatively small damages, many large companies rely on mandatory arbitration provisions and class action waivers in their employment and consumer agreements. But what happens when plaintiffs’ attorneys file individual arbitration cases on behalf of thousands of claimants at the same time? In this episode, co-hosts Alicia Downey and John Roberti speak with Dave Rochelson, author of “Is This the End of Mandatory Arbitration?” about the new wave of so-called “mass arbitrations,” in which the respondent may be required to pay aggregated filing and case administration fees totaling hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Listen to this episode to discover how mass arbitration is leveling the playing field and calling into question the cost-benefit proposition of class waivers and mandatory arbitration. Click here to access the podcast.