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Arthur J. Burke
Partner
As a member of Davis Polk’s Litigation Department in New York and Menlo Park, California, Mr. Burke has represented clients in a variety of antitrust, securities, corporate governance and general litigation matters. In his antitrust practice, he advises clients on the competition law aspects of mergers and acquisitions and represents clients in investigations of mergers undertaken by federal antitrust authorities pursuant to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.
Contact
  • New York
    450 Lexington Avenue
    New York, NY 10017
    P: 212-450-4352
    F: 212-701-5352
Bar Admissions
  • State of New York
  • State of California
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, C.D. California
  • U.S. District Court, E.D. California
  • U.S. District Court, N.D. California
  • U.S. District Court, S.D. New York
Education
  • B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1989
    • magna cum laude
  • B.S., University of Pennsylvania, 1989
    • magna cum laude
  • J.D., University of Michigan Law School, 1992
    • magna cum laude
    • Editor, Law Review

Work Highlights
Recent M&A-related Antitrust Representations
  • Comcast Corporation, the nation’s largest cable company, in DOJ and FCC investigations of its acquisition of a majority interest in NBCUniversal (2009-11); the transaction closed in January 2011
  • SDI Health, a leading provider of health care analytics and market insights, in an FTC investigation of its acquisition by IMC Health; the transaction closed in 2011 subsequent to the filing of an FTC consent decree
  • LoopNet, a leading online real estate market place, in an ongoing FTC investigation of its $860 million acquisition by CoStar
  • Equinix, a provider of global data center services, in a DOJ investigation of its proposed $689 million acquisition of Switch and Data (2009-10); the transaction closed in 2010
  • Citigroup in a joint venture transaction combining the retail brokerage businesses of Citigroup (Smith Barney) and Morgan Stanley (2008-09)
  • KLA-Tencor, a manufacturer of semiconductor test equipment, in DOJ investigations and related German Federal Cartel Office “Phase II” investigations of its proposed acquisitions of a number of companies, including August Technology, ADE Corp., Therma-Wave, ICOS, and Vistec; all transactions were approved without conditions (2005-08)
  • SLM Corp. (“Sallie Mae”), the largest student lender in the U.S., in a DOJ investigation of its $25 billion acquisition by a consortium of private equity and strategic buyers; the transaction was approved without conditions (2007)
  • McDATA Corporation, a manufacturer of switches and related equipment for storage area networks, in an FTC second request investigation of its $700 million acquisitions by Brocade; the FTC approved the deal without conditions (2006-07)
  • Comcast Corporation in DOJ and FTC second request investigations of a number of successful acquisitions, including its $18 billion joint acquisition (with Time Warner) of Adelphia Communications (2005-06) and its $52 billion acquisition of AT&T’s cable and broadband business (2001-02)
  • Argosy Gaming, a riverboat casino operator, in an FTC second request investigation of its $2.2 billion acquisition by Penn National Gaming; the transaction was approved with the divestiture of one casino (2005)

Mr. Burke has also provided antitrust advice in connection with the formation of joint ventures and standard-setting organizations and consortia.

 

Recent Litigation Representations
  • Bank of America in an ongoing MDL antitrust litigation alleging a conspiracy to manipulate LIBOR interest rates
  • Comcast in two 2009 trials before an FCC administrative law judge concerning “discrimination” claims brought by sports programming channels
  • Oracle Corporation in a 2007 lawsuit in Santa Clara Superior Court seeking to block its $500 million acquisition of Agile Software; the court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and the case was dismissed with prejudice
  • Oracle Corporation in litigation arising out of its unsolicited tender offer for PeopleSoft, including a two-week trial in Delaware Chancery Court; Oracle acquired PeopleSoft in January 2005
  • Comcast in two separate federal antitrust suits brought in 2006 by purported “independent” cable programmers seeking to compel carriage by Comcast; the district courts in both cases dismissed the claims
  • Comcast in an ongoing antitrust suit in Los Angeles federal court challenging the alleged practice of selling cable channels in “bundled tiers” 
  • Quality Systems, Inc. in a suit brought in Orange County Superior Court by a dissident shareholder challenging the results of a contested board election; the Court ruled for Quality Systems after a bench trial (2005)
  • Numerous companies, including AMI Semiconductor, Photon Dynamics, VF Corporation and TheraSense in suits seeking to block merger agreements to which they were parties; all transactions closed successfully 
  • Various companies and individuals in criminal grand jury investigations and private civil antitrust litigations alleging price-fixing conspiracies among competitors
Recognition
  • Mr. Burke is listed as a leading lawyer in several legal industry publications, including:
    • Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (Antitrust)
    • Practical Law Company’s Which Lawyer? and Cross-border Competition Handbook
    • Legal Media Group’s Benchmark Litigation and Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Competition & Antitrust Lawyers
    • Law Business Research’s Who’s Who LegalCalifornia (Competition) and Who’s Who Legal–International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists
    • The Legal 500 U.S.


  • Mr. Burke is a member of Davis Polk’s Antitrust Group, which was named a “Competition Group of the Year” by Law360.
Of Note
  • Speaker at numerous antitrust seminars and conferences
Current Memberships
  • Member, Section of Antitrust Law, American Bar Association
  • Co-Chair, Antitrust Section’s Intellectual Property Committee, American Bar Association
Past Membership
  • Member, Antitrust Committee and Mergers Subcommittee, New York City Bar, 2001-2003
Professional History
  • Partner, 2000-present
  • Associate, 1993-2000
  • Law Clerk, Hon. Douglas H. Ginsburg, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit 1992-1993