Practice Areas
What Antitrust Lawyers Actually Do
Antitrust lawyers work on merger review, government investigations, litigation, and counseling about competition. The practice mixes economics, regulation, facts, and advocacy.
Updated August 8, 2026 · 4 min read
Antitrust law is the body of law concerned with competition. It addresses mergers, agreements among competitors, monopolization, pricing, market conduct, and other behavior that may reduce competition.
In BigLaw, antitrust can be transactional, regulatory, investigative, and litigious. That mixture is the main reason the practice is interesting.
Merger review
When companies plan a significant transaction, antitrust lawyers assess whether regulators may believe the deal harms competition.
The work can involve:
- defining products and geographic markets;
- understanding competitors and customers;
- analyzing business documents and data;
- preparing regulatory filings;
- responding to government questions;
- working with economists;
- negotiating remedies; and
- coordinating review across countries.
HSR refers to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and the U.S. premerger notification process. Certain transactions meeting current legal tests require filings with the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice before closing. Thresholds and rules change, so current agency sources matter more than an old article number.
Government investigations
The FTC, DOJ, state attorneys general, and regulators outside the United States can investigate potential anticompetitive conduct.
Lawyers help clients preserve and collect information, respond to requests, interview employees, analyze facts, present arguments, and manage risk.
Investigations can feel like litigation before a complaint exists. The record is developing while lawyers try to understand what happened and how an agency views it.
Antitrust litigation
Companies can face government enforcement or private lawsuits involving alleged price fixing, monopolization, exclusionary conduct, or anticompetitive mergers.
The work includes motions, discovery, experts, depositions, hearings, and trial. Economic analysis can be central because many disputes concern market definition, competitive effects, and damages.
Counseling
Antitrust lawyers also advise before a problem occurs. Questions include:
- Can competitors share this information?
- Can a company structure a distribution policy this way?
- Does a joint venture create risk?
- How should employees communicate about pricing?
- What can a dominant company do with customers or partners?
Counseling can be fast and practical. The client may need an answer before a meeting or product decision.
What juniors do
Junior assignments may include:
- legal research;
- reviewing business documents;
- preparing timelines;
- drafting portions of agency submissions or briefs;
- organizing evidence;
- supporting witness interviews;
- coordinating data and expert work;
- tracking regulatory requests; and
- monitoring legal developments.
Document review can be a large part of investigations and litigation. The value comes from understanding which documents matter and why.