Michael Fanelli helps the firm’s clients navigate the risks of global cartel and other civil competition and criminal investigations. The vast majority of the companies and individuals that he has defended have faced no adverse governmental actions. He delivers value by providing advice that enables the firm’s clients to understand their options and make the best choice in light of their legal risks and business interests.
Drawing upon over twenty years of private practice and governmental experience, Michael is a leading in defending global and U.S. companies and executives in complex cartel investigations, involving price-fixing, bid-rigging, and market allocation. Michael also defends clients in private class action cartel litigation and other civil antitrust litigation. He recently has achieved notable early dismissals of his clients in the sprawling, In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80337 (2013) and with respect to novel resale price maintenance claims brought in federal court under New York's Donnelly Act in Worldhomecenter.com, Inc. v. KWC America, Inc., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104496 (2011).
Michael also advises clients in the formation and operation of joint ventures, competitor collaborations, and strategic alliances. While in government service, Michael assisted in drafting the FTC & DOJ Competitor Collaboration Guidelines.
Michael also has extensive expertise in other governmental criminal investigations and internal corporate audit and special litigation committee investigations, and special litigation committee investigations involving a range of legal issues, including fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.
Michael has been a leader within the antitrust bar for well over a decade. He is a former member of the ABA International Cartel Task Force, and senior leader of the ABA Antitrust Section’s International Committee and Cartel and Criminal Practice Committee. He also served as Co-Chair of the ABA Antitrust Section’s Joint Conduct Committee, which focuses on U.S. and international joint venture, cartel, and distribution issues. And, he was the Editorial Chair of the two-volume ABA Antitrust Section treatise Competition Laws Outside the United States (2011), which provided in-depth coverage of the competition laws of eighteen global jurisdictions.