GCR 100 Ranks Axinn as “Highly Recommended”

Global Competition Review announced today that Axinn was again selected in their annual survey, GCR 100 – listing both the firm’s Washington, DC and New York practices as “Highly Recommended” among antitrust and competition law firms. GCR 100 is a comprehensive, independent assessment of the world’s top antitrust and competition practices. The survey provides qualitative analysis of antitrust groups in jurisdictions around the world. The write-ups provided by GCR are below.

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United States: Government Antitrust

Litigation and antitrust boutique Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider says 2013 was another great year for the DC office, where the firm handles a blend of litigation and government cartel defence work. The two-partner, one-counsel group works as a kind of counterbalance to the firm’s prominent New York office, where the lawyers more often find themselves handling merger matters. That said, the two offices work in lockstep on a variety of antitrust matters, including the firm’s work for Google.

Who’s Who Legal nominee John DeQ Briggs and the DC group at Axinn are advising Independence Blue Cross in the consolidated Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litigation, by some measure the largest in the country. Briggs also helped guide Affinia and Wix Filtration to a mild US$2 million settlement to end its exposure in the automotive filters multi-district antitrust case. Last year, Briggs was also involved in multiple other matters, including acting for a client in the auto parts industry. The firm is also advising 3M Innovative Properties in a monopolisation claim brought by TransWeb in New Jersey.

United States: New York

The promotion of Russell Steinthal to partner in February is an indication of Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider’s success. Led by John D Harkrider, a Who’s Who Legal nominee alongside fellow name partner Stephen M Axinn, the team punches significantly above its weight as a highly regarded antitrust boutique. The firm was once again listed in the GCR Awards, this time winning “Matter of the Year” for its efforts in the US Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of Google.

Harkrider and Mark Alexander are counsel to Thermo Fisher in its US$13.6 billion merger with Life Technologies, and the firm represented Omnicare in its bid to buy PharMerica but the deal was abandoned after US enforcers opposed it. Axinn Veltrop also advised Motorola Mobility, owned by Google, in the sale of its cable and internet business to Arris; it was closed after a second request.