Kesselman Brantly Stockinger LLP

Congratulations to my colleagues!

We are thrilled to announce that four KBS attorneys have been?selected to the 2025 Southern California Super Lawyers list, an exclusive recognition given to only 5% of attorneys in Southern California. Congratulations to Amy Brantly, Majed?Dakak, David Kesselman, and Trevor Stockinger?on this well-deserved honor, as well as to Ryan Davis who was recognized as a 2025 Rising Star. https://lnkd.in/eXu5uH2 ?

On February 10, 2025, new Hart Scott Rodino (“HSR”) filing rules for proposed mergers and acquisitions came into effect.??Among the new requirements: submission of additional transaction documents (even drafts sent to a single board member); disclosure of overlapping lines of businesses (including horizontal and vertical relationships and top customers); disclosure of (most) prior acquisitions; and disclosure of (most) investors in the acquiring entity.? Although the FTC had approved the new premerger filing requirements on a bipartisan (5-0) basis, some have questioned the need for more expansive disclosure requirements.??However, any question about whether the new administration might reconsider the rules was seemingly put to rest when, on February 11, 2025, the new FTC Chair indicated via social media posts that the agency would remain committed to the new HSR filing requirements.? KBS’s experienced antitrust attorneys are available to discuss these new requirements.

Abiel Garcia, partner with Kesselman Brantly Stockinger was recently quoted in the Law360 article, “Merger Enforcers End Year On Upswing,” discussing the Biden administration’s aggressive approach to merger enforcement and the key court rulings blocking transactions in their final year. One specific win for the FTC was a preliminary injunction stopping the $8.5 billion merger between Tapestry and Capri holdings. Garcia told Law360 a lot of people were "flippant" about the FTC taking on the Tapestry case, given the products at issue, but he said the judge issued a resounding opinion showing "a consumer is a consumer." "If you can show that there is a specific set of consumers that are going to be harmed, that is enough," Garcia said. "There's very much a group of consumers that are right in that category, that will not stretch up and will not stretch down. They know exactly what consumers they are going after, the sliver of the market that they're trying to maximize and grow." Read the full article on Law360 (subscription required):? https://lnkd.in/euAPyGMm

Kesselman Brantly Stockinger partner, Abiel Garcia, was recently quoted in the Law360 article, “Trump DOJ Antitrust Pick Means Google Should be Nervous.” The article looks at the selection of Gail Slater, a former FTC staffer, as the choice to lead the new administration’s DOJ Antitrust Division. Many feel that this indicated the aggressive push against tech giants is likely to continue, but there could also be a somewhat friendlier reception for mergers. Of the selection, Garcia told Law360, “She'll probably fall back more in line with traditional enforcement mechanisms. Not to say that that's a bad thing, it's just different from what we're seeing right now.” Read more from Law360:?https://lnkd.in/gPRCw-dx

Abiel Garcia, partner with Kesselman Brantly Stockinger, was recently quoted in the Bloomberg article, “Google Monopoly Under Fire,” discussing the possible remedies the DOJ might seek as they look to break up the tech giant’s “monopolization of online search.” Garcia told Bloomberg, the Justice Department is trying to come up with “remedies that will not only reintroduce competition in search but make sure that as the market changes, Google doesn’t re-entrench?itself.”?The remedies might cause Google “to rethink and reevaluate business strategy to some extent, but it’s not like we’re not going to have a Google anymore.” Read the full Bloomberg article here (subscription required):?https://lnkd.in/gMfZNgvJ Or here:?https://lnkd.in/gz8MrneQ

Abiel Garcia, partner with Kesselman Brantly Stockinger, was quoted in the Daily Journal article, “Kirkland & Ellis will lead Apple’s antitrust defense,” discussing the sweeping DOJ lawsuit against the tech giant. In this case, the DOJ accuses Apple of monopolistic behavior and stifling innovation in app development. Garcia commented, it was “hard to say” what the DOJ’s chance of success in the case was, noting the outcome would likely come down to how well the government presents its case. “If successful, I think it will have an effect on how people view the interplay of software and hardware, as well as change the tech landscape with respect to platforms and digital platforms, and how those are governed by their operators,” he said. You can read the full Daily Journal article here (subscription required):?www.dailyjournal.com

Abiel Garcia, partner with Kesselman Brantly Stockinger, was recently quoted in the Blomberg Law article, “Apple Antitrust Suit Marks Broad US Attack on iPhone Dominance.”?The article looks at the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple, leveling allegations against the tech giant’s entire ecosystem and accusing the company of illegally blocking rivals from accessing hardware and software features on its devices. The case is a departure from previous cases which targeted more narrow aspects of Apple’s business model, including the case brought by Epic Games. The App Store restrictions brought forth in the Epic case amount to “one arrow in the quiver” of the DOJ’s complaint, Garcia told Bloomberg Law. The DOJ’s case identifies App Store restrictions, which have already been litigated, as just one of the many steps Apple has taken to allegedly entrench its monopoly power, he added. “It’s a broader range than the Epic case, because they’re now saying these practices are an issue not just in the App Store, but generally in the smartphone market,” Garcia said. The full Bloomberg Law article can be found here:?https://lnkd.in/g79yAbf8

Abiel Garcia, partner with Kesselman Brantly Stockinger, was recently quoted in the Daily Journal article, “California Antitrust Division chief threatens criminal enforcement.” The article covers a recent speech to the ABA by Paula Blizzard who leads the antitrust division at the California Department of Justice in which she discussed bringing back California’s era of criminal antitrust enforcement. Garcia commented, “I think for a lot of people it comes out of the blue. While the California Attorney General’s antitrust section is very active in the civil space, it really hasn’t been active in the criminal space in 25, maybe 30 years. There haven’t been rumblings about a potential criminal case from the California Attorney General under the Cartwright Act. This came out of left field.” He went on to say, “I’ve seen some articles say it might be an overreach. I don’t think so. The Cartwright Act has been proclaimed for years by the California Supreme Court to be broader than the Sherman Act. California, now I think the fourth-largest economy in the world, has the right to regulate how it wants to.” You can read the full article on the?Daily Journal?(subscription required)