Antitrust 101 - The Basics of Antitrust Law for the Novice Attorney

Deona Kalala focuses on complex commercial litigation, including high-stakes antitrust, consumer protection, and data privacy matters. Deona also advises clients on antitrust and unfair competition law in the context of mergers and acquisitions and related compliance counseling. She assists companies navigating the Hart–Scott–Rodino (HSR) merger clearance process and conducts due diligence on the antitrust implications of transactions and investments.

Deona is active with the American Bar Association. She serves as a member of the governing council of the Antitrust Law Section. Deona is also an adjunct professor at the Washington University School of Law and teaches a course on the HSR Merger Clearance process.

While Deona was an associate at another large law firm’s litigation practice, she represented transit agencies, financial institutions, manufacturers, agricultural cooperatives, and a variety of private business owners in civil litigation, including cases involving antitrust claims, contract disputes, class actions, breach of fiduciary duty, and commercial loan disputes.

Deona received her J.D. from Washington University School of Law, where she participated in a legal practice externship with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and served as a law clerk in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Before attending law school, Deona was a client executive for a major international corporation. She earned her B.S. in industrial engineering and M.S. in economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Ms. Belin works closely with clients to develop and execute an efficient, compliant and complete filing strategy that ultimately receives federal clearance. Representing a broad array of industries throughout the world, her clients have included Advanced Medical Optics, Inc.; Aioi Insurance Company Limited; American Express Company; Apple, Inc.; Ball Corporation; BlackRock, Inc.; Bear Stearns; Broadcom Corporation; CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V.; CF Industries, Inc.; Citigroup Inc.; Doughty Hanson; EMC Corporation; Express Scripts, Inc.; Fresenius SE; J. C. Penney Company, Inc.; Knight Capital Group, Inc.; McKesson Corporation; M&F Worldwide Corp.; Novell, Inc.; Oaktree/Pierre Foods, Inc.; OAO Severstal; O’Reilly Automotive, Inc.; SanDisk Corporation; Sekisui Chemical Company; Stryker Corporation; TOMY Corporation; UST Inc.; The Veritas Capital Fund IV; Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company; and Yahoo! Inc.

In addition, Ms. Belin assists with updating the leading treatise on the HSR rules and applications, Acquisitions Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. She also serves as a member of the editorial board for the Antitrust Source, which is the online antitrust publication for the Antitrust Law Section of the American Bar Association. Ms. Belin is a member of several bar associations, including the American Bar Association and the National Bar Association. She also co-writes the firm’s client materials regarding regulatory developments in the HSR legal community.

Brent focuses his practice on antitrust and trade regulation, class action litigation, and complex commercial litigation. He has litigated matters in federal courts throughout the United States and has handled cases under virtually every aspect of the antitrust laws including monopolization, price fixing, vertical conspiracies, boycotts, and price discrimination, as well as a number of state antitrust and unfair competition statutes. Brent also has successfully represented both corporate clients and individuals located throughout the world in criminal antitrust cartel cases in the United States and Canada. His practice has included representation of clients before the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, the Canadian Competition Bureau, and the European Commission Directorate General for Competition.

In addition, Brent has worked extensively on merger investigations involving both domestic and European companies, has supervised the preparation of hundreds of Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification filings, and obtained dismissal in federal district court of an FTC lawsuit seeking to enjoin a natural gas utility merger.

Brent serves as the co-chair of the Cartel and Criminal Practice Committee of the ABA’s Antitrust Section and also serves on the Board of the Business Law Section of the Virginia State Bar. He is also an editor of the three-volume State Antitrust Practice and Statutes (Fifth) published by the ABA Antitrust Section, and is a past chair of the Antitrust Section of the Virginia State Bar.