Over the course of his 24 years at Axinn, Mike Keeley has obtained antitrust clearance for large and complex strategic mergers, tried monopolization and patent jury cases, arbitrated international commercial disputes and, most importantly, developed relationships with some of the best companies in the world. Clients value Mike's business-oriented approach to transactions and commercial disputes and his ability and willingness to give quick and clear guidance. A substantial part of Mike's work involves the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property. 

Mike's recent antitrust work on strategic transactions includes Tyson Foods’ $1.2 billion sale of its pet treats business to General Mills; Dell Technologies’ $4 billion sale of Boomi to TPG and Francisco Partners; Tyler Technologies’ $2.3 billion acquisition of NIC Inc.; Tyson Foods’ acquisition of American Proteins; Tyson Foods acquisition of Keystone Foods from Marfrig; Tyson Foods’ acquisition of Smart Chicken; Dell’s $67 billion acquisition of EMC; Interactive Data Corporation’s $5 billion acquisition by Intercontinental Exchange Inc.; Thermo Fisher Scientific's $13.6 billion acquisition of Life Technologies; SunGard in its $9 billion sale to Fidelity National; Tyler Technologies in its acquisition of New World Systems; A&P in its acquisition of Pathmark Stores; Take-Two Interactive Software in Electronic Arts' hostile bid for Take-Two; GameStop's acquisition of Electronics Boutique; Harcourt, Inc.'s acquisition by Reed Elsevier and Thomson.

Where mergers have been challenged, Mike has tried and prevailed in multiple cases, including: the Antitrust Division's challenge to SunGard/Comdisco; the Antitrust Division's challenge to the sale by Tyson Foods of a poultry processing complex to George's Foods, and the City of New York's challenge to the combination of health insurers GHI and HIP to form Emblem Health.

Mike also has an active litigation practice and he has litigated and tried to a jury or a court a range of antitrust cases around the country involving claims of monopolization, anti-competitive agreements and unlawful acquisitions.  This includes recent cases for Momenta Pharmaceuticals in a series of antitrust cases involving patent enforcement; Thales Group in dual patent litigations; Alvogen in a patent infringement and antitrust litigation regarding Indivior’s opioid dependency treatment drug Suboxone^® Film and in the Generic Drugs MDL; and Tyson Foods in a putative antitrust class action litigation alleging a conspiracy to depress broiler grower pay.

Clerkships

• Law Clerk to the Honorable Thomas J. Meskill, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1995–1996)

Professional Activities

• American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law, Mergers & Acquisitions Committee, Co-Chair (2018–2021)
• American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law, Mergers & Acquisitions Committee, Vice-Chair (2015–2018)
• American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law, Task Force on Foreign Investment (2013–2015)
• American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law, Mergers & Acquisitions Committee, The Threshold, Co-Editor

Honors

• Chambers USA – District of Columbia: Antitrust (2020 – 2022)
• The Legal 500 United States (2022 – 2023)
• Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America 
• Best Lawyers in America (2020 – 2023)
• Winner, 2021 Concurrences Antitrust Writing Award (Business Article, Intellectual Property subcategory), "Antitrust Treatment of Acceleration Provisions in Hatch-Waxman Settlements"
• Super Lawyers (2014 – 2023)
• Who's Who Legal: Competition (2020 – 2022)

News

• Axinn’s Antitrust Practice Nationally Ranked by The Legal 500 United States for 2023
• Chambers USA 2023 Recognizes Axinn Lawyers and Practice Groups
• Who’s Who Legal – Thought Leaders 2023
• Axinn Partners Named to Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America
• Axinn Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers 2023
• Who's Who Legal Recognizes Ten Axinn Attorneys
• Commission Affirms Axinn’s ITC Victory for Thales
• Axinn’s Antitrust Practice Nationally Ranked by The Legal 500 United States for 2022
• Chambers USA 2022 Recognizes Axinn Lawyers and Practice Groups
• Axinn Advising VMware, Inc. in $61B Acquisition by Broadcom Inc.
• Axinn Advised Take-Two Interactive on $12.7B Acquisition of Zynga
• Axinn Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers 2022
• Who's Who Legal Recognizes Eleven Axinn Attorneys
• Axinn Attorneys Win 2021 Antitrust Writing Awards
• Axinn Advised Ellucian in Acquisition by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners
• Axinn’s Antitrust Practice Nationally Ranked by The Legal 500 United States for 2021
• Chambers USA 2021 Recognizes Axinn Lawyers and Practice Groups
• Axinn Advises Tyson Foods on $1.2B Sale of Pet Treats Business to General Mills
• Eight Axinn Articles Nominated for Antitrust Writing Awards
• Axinn Advises Dell Technologies on $4B Sale of Boomi
• Axinn Advises Take-Two Interactive on Nearly $1B Acquisition of Codemasters
• Axinn Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers 2021
• Who's Who Legal Recognizes Eleven Axinn Attorneys
• Axinn’s Antitrust Practice Nationally Ranked by The Legal 500 United States for 2020
• Chambers USA 2020 Recognizes Axinn Lawyers and Practice Groups
• Axinn Advised Thermo Fisher on $12.5B Acquisition of QIAGEN
• Axinn Partners Named to Best Lawyers 2020
• Axinn’s Antitrust Practice Nationally Ranked by The Legal 500 United States
• Axinn Representing Silver Lake Partners LP in IMG/Learfield Merger
• GCR Nominates Axinn for Litigation of the Year, Deal of the Year and Dealmaker of the Year
• Axinn Represents Stanley Black & Decker in its Purchase of the Craftsman Brand from Sears Holdings
• Axinn Secures Antitrust Clearance for McKesson’s Transaction with Change Healthcare to Form $3.4 Billion New Health Care Information Technology Company
• Axinn Represents Dell in $60 Billion Acquisition of EMC
• Axinn Obtains FTC Clearance for Dell’s $67B Acquisition of EMC
• Axinn Represents Tyler Technologies, Inc. in its Acquisition of New World Systems Corporation
• Axinn Successfully Represents Alvogen Before FTC
• Axinn Represents IDC in $5.2B Acquisition by ICE
• Axinn is Lead Antitrust Counsel in Dell’s $67B Acquisition of EMC
• Axinn Represents Alvogen Before FTC in Connection with Divested Products from Pfizer and Hospira
• Axinn Nominated for Global M&A Deal of the Year by Atlas Awards
• FTC Approves Final Order for Thermo Fisher's $13.6 Billion Acquisition of Life Technologies
• Axinn Obtains Global Antitrust Clearance for Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s $13.6 billion Acquisition
• GCR Rates Axinn's Antitrust Practice as "Highly Recommended"
• Axinn Serves as Lead Antitrust Counsel for Ecolab in $2.2 Billion Acquisition
• Axinn Obtains Antitrust Clearance for $1.775 Billion Combination of SunGard Higher Education and Datatel, Inc.
• Axinn Assisted Actavis in Resolving Ten-Year-Old Dispute with Pfizer
• Axinn Represents Omnicare Inc. in Proposed Acquisition of PharMerica Corp.
• Axinn Wins in 2nd Circuit GHI HIP Merger
• Axinn Partners Again Ranked by Chambers
• Axinn represents George's in DOJ lawsuit
• Axinn Wins ICC Arbitration on Behalf of Major European Airframe Manufacturer
• Axinn Practice Groups, Attorneys Rank Highly in Chambers 2010 USA Release
• The International Legal Alliance Recognizes Axinn as One of the Top Antitrust Firms in the U.S.
• Axinn Recognized Among the Best Antitrust Practices in NY by Global Competition Review Magazine
• Axinn Ranked Among Top New York Law Firms by Chambers USA
• Michael Keeley and Chad Landmon discuss FDA's recent 180-day exclusivity decisions with FDAnews
• FDAnews Audioconference -- Navigating the FDA's New 180-Day Generic Marketing Exclusivity Rulings
• Global Competition Review Ranks Axinn's Antitrust Practice Among Best in New York
• Chambers USA Ranks Axinn Among Top New York Law Firms
• Axinn Obtains Antitrust Clearance for Rent-Way, Inc.'s $567 Million Acquisition by Rent-A-Center
• Axinn Makes Top 20 U.S. Deal Firms by The Deal
• Axinn Wins Dismissal of Yeshiva University from Antitrust Conspiracy Class Action
• Axinn Represents Purepac Pharmaceutical Company in Metformin Launch
• Axinn Represents Harcourt General in Sale to Reed Elsevier and Thomson Corporation
• Axinn Represents Sungard Data Systems Inc. in Acquisition of Availability Solutions Business of Comdisco Inc.
• New York State Attorney General’s Office Retains Axinn
• View More ›

Thought Leadership

• Who’s Who Legal – Thought Leaders Competition 2022, January 18, 2022
• Bedoya’s Confirmation Hearing Draws Closer, FTCWatch, November 1, 2021
• Antitrust Treatment of Acceleration Provisions in Hatch-Waxman Settlements, FDLI’s Update Magazine, Winter 2020 Issue, December 7, 2020
• Can We Have Mergers Without Tears? Understanding the Basics of Merger Review, Our Curious Amalgam, August 26, 2019
• Amazon Profits Fall Far Short of Expectations, But Investors Shrug, The New York Times, July 26, 2017
• Baker Hughes Lays Out Cost Cuts, Buybacks After Halliburton Deal Dies, May 2, 2016
• Big Five? Alaska Airlines to Acquire Virgin America, Global Competition Review, April 5, 2016
• Alaska Air to Buy Virgin America, Stripping California of its Only Major Airline, Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2016
• AMC's Carmike Buy Sharpens Focus On Rivals' Film Access, Law360, March 4, 2016
• Brussels Launches Antitrust Investigation Into Amazon, Financial Times, June 11, 2015
• Sysco Tries to Salvage Merger With US Foods, Nation's Restaurant News, May 11, 2015
• Two Probes Proved Too Much for Comcast, The Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2015
• Staples Agrees to Buy Office Depot, FTC Approval Seen Likely, Reuters, February 4, 2015
• Staples and Office Depot Say a Merger Will Keep Them Competitive, The New York Times, February 4, 2015
• FTC May Eye Corporate Sales In A Staples-Office Depot Deal, Law360, February 3, 2015
• Staples, Office Depot Expect Second Time a Charm in Merger, Reuters, February 3, 2015
• Dollar General Cites Regulatory Hurdles to Bid for Family Dollar, The Wall Street Journal, January 22, 2015
• Starboard Asks Staples to Merge with Office Depot, Reuters, January 20, 2015
• Dollar General Hits Do-Or-Die Point In $9B Hunt For Rival, Law360, January 13, 2015
• Family Dollar FTC Antitrust Concerns Supported by Pricing Study, Bloomberg, September 17, 2014
• Bidding War Breaks Out to Dominate Dollar Stores, The Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2014
• Dollar General / Family Dollar a Tougher Antitrust Sell, Observers Say, Global Competition Review, August 18, 2014
• Michael Keeley Interviewed for Law360's Q&A, Law360, April 30, 2013
• Axinn Partner Michael Keeley Speaks To Reuters on NBA Antitrust Lawsuit, November 3, 2011
• Trends in FTC Merger Enforcement: Assessing the Most Recent Data, The Threshold, Spring 2009
• Mike Keeley in Reuters: "Most presidential hopefuls antitrust moderates", January 13, 2008
• Club Dues, The Deal, October 10, 2006
• Freedom from Filing: The FTC Should Reconsider Investor Activism under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, The Deal, February 6, 2006
• "Schering" Overruled: Risk of Settling Patent Suits Reduced?, New York Law Journal, April 7, 2005
• Merger Review and Litigation Involving the Acquisition of Bankrupt Companies, ANTITRUST, Summer 2002
• Resolving Complex Antitrust Cases Promptly, Icarus, Summer 2002
• Understand Foreign Pre-Merger Filings, New York Law Journal, 1999

Events

Education

• JD, cum laude – Fordham University School of Law (1995)
• BS, with Honors – Fordham University (1992)

Admissions

• District of Columbia
• US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• US District Court District of Columbia
• US District Court Southern District of New York
• US Supreme Court