Howard Shelanski
Co-head of Antitrust & Competition, and a national authority on antitrust and regulation. High-level experience at the FTC, the FCC and the White House.
Howard is the co-head of our Antitrust & Competition practice. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on antitrust and regulation, with high-level experience at the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and in the Executive Branch. He is also a Professor of Law at Georgetown University.
Howard regularly advises clients on the antitrust aspects of their most important mergers, acquisitions and strategic partnerships across a range of industries. He also represents clients in conduct investigations by federal, state and non-U.S. antitrust authorities, and provides counsel on a variety of general competition and regulatory matters.
From 2013 to 2017, Howard served as Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Before that, he was Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Economics. Howard also served as the FCC’s Chief Economist and as a Senior Economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Experience
M&A-Related Antitrust
- Cintas’ $5.5 billion acquisition of Unifirst
- Qorvo’s $22 billion combination with Skyworks
- Akzo Nobel’s $25 billion merger with Axalta
- Wesco Group’s acquisition of National Coatings and Supplies
- Rev Group’s Acquisition by Terex
- Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft’s $3.6 billion combination with Hogan Lovells
- Endo’s $6.7 billion merger with Mallinckrodt
- Leidos’ acquisition of Savanna Industries
- Williams’ 1.5 billion acquisition of MountainWest Pipelines
- Nippon Paint’s $2.3 billion AOC acquisition
- Atlantic Union Bankshares’ $1.6 billion acquisition of Sandy Spring Bancorp
- Arcadium Lithium’s $6.7 billion acquisition by Rio Tinto
- Spectrum Brands’ Hardware and Home Improvement Division sale to Assa Abloy
- Cleveland-Cliffs’ $2.5 billion acquisition of Stelco Holdings
- Summit Materials’ $3.2 billion combination with Argos USA and $11.5 billion acquisition by Quikrete
- Campbell’s $2.7 billion acquisition of Sovos Brands
- Livent’s $10.6 billion merger with Allkem
- Republic Services’ $2.2 billion acquisition of US Ecology
- Rentokil Initial’s $6.7 billion acquisition of Terminix
- IHS Markit’s $44 billion merger with S&P Global
- TPG in various acquisitions, including of Centrify and Thycotic
- The Charles Schwab Corp’s $26 billion acquisition of TD Ameritrade
- Roche’s $4.3 billion acquisition of Spark Therapeutics
- Advanced Accelerator Applications’ $3.9 billion acquisition by Novartis
- Services Group of America’s $1.8 billion sale of its Food Group to US Foods
Antitrust Litigation and Investigations
- Rev Group in
- ongoing federal and state AG investigations of the fire apparatus industry
- multiple civil litigations against producers of fire apparatus
- OpenAI in the remedy phase of the U.S. DOJ’s Google search litigation
- A leading emerging technology company in a conduct investigation by the FTC
- Hilton in ongoing antitrust class actions in the luxury hotel industry
- Spectrum Brands in DOJ litigation over its transaction with ASSA ABLOY
- Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits in an FTC Robinson Patman Act investigation and litigation.
- Two healthcare companies and a food distributor in conduct investigations by U.S. antitrust agencies
- One of the world’s largest technology companies in government antitrust investigations and litigation
Insights
News
Recognition
Chambers USA – Antitrust, District of Columbia
National Law Journal – “Washington DC Trailblazer,” 2020
National Law Journal – “Mergers & Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazer,” 2018
Education
- Order of the Coif
Clerkships
Prior experience
- Professor of Law, Georgetown University, 2011-present
- Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, White House Office of Management and Budget, 2013-2017
- Director, Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission, 2012-2013
- Deputy Director, Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission, 2009-2011
- Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley, 1997-2009
- Chief Economist, Federal Communications Commission, 1999-2000
- Senior Economist, White House Council of Economic Advisers, 1998-1999
Qualifications and admissions
- District of Columbia