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Competition & Government Regulation

The firm's antitrust lawyers advise a large number of foreign and domestic clients concerning antitrust issues as they may relate to international transactions and commercial disputes. For example, we were retained by Exxon in connection with the Mobil merger to advise on antitrust and merger control issues in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand. We assisted Japanese counsel in defending a stock acquisition transaction before the Japanese Fair Trade Commission that was eventually approved by the JFTC. We have served as U.S. corporate and antitrust counsel to Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd. in connection with its acquisition of Green Cross Corporation. Covington provided expert testimony on U.S. and EU competition law to an Indian Parliament Committee drafting major competition law reform legislation. Covington has represented one of the largest providers of telecommunications services in Asia in a DOJ investigation of alleged collusion with respect to termination rates charged to US carriers. The government ultimately closed the investigation and took no action against our client.

The firm has considerable experience in tracking, analyzing, and keeping current with environmental, health, and safety requirements worldwide that affect the sale, distribution, and support of products. We routinely advise U.S.-based companies on the regulation of products in foreign markets, as well as foreign-based companies on the regulation of products in the U.S. market. We represent companies in product liability litigation throughout the world.

Our work in Asia with respect to environmental, health, and safety matters includes the representation of a number of U.S.-based pharmaceutical and medical device companies in assessing the regulatory requirements for various products in markets throughout Asia. For these projects, we have worked closely with local counsel in responding to requests for advice on regulatory requirements and in framing questions for the relevant government authorities. Where local laws are particularly vague, we have also assisted clients in developing a strategy to access the relevant markets and to anticipate the development of a regulatory scheme. The firm also represents a consortium of major consumer product companies in Asia in connection with the legal status of certain environmental exposures. In the course of our work, we have developed an ability to track the evolution of regulatory issues as well as substantial expertise in responding to governmental and private-sector initiatives of concern to our clients.

The firm's regulatory and corporate expertise is often combined to provide a broad range of services efficiently and effectively to clients in their efforts to access new markets or further develop existing markets.