David Wales is recognized as a leading antitrust lawyer and has almost 25 years of experience in both private and public sectors. His practice focuses on providing antitrust advice to U.S. and international clients in a wide range of industries on all aspects of antitrust, including mergers and acquisitions, alliances, criminal grand jury investigations, dominant firm conduct, distribution arrangements, licensing and competitor collaborations.
Mr. Wales has the distinctive experience of serving as a senior official in both U.S. antitrust agencies. Most recently, he served as acting director of the Bureau of Competition (2008-09) during a three-year tenure at the Federal Trade Commission, where he oversaw all of the agency’s antitrust enforcement activity, including in the health care, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, technology, chemical, defense, retail and consumer product industries.
He also served as counsel to the assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (2001-03), where he was part of the small front-office team managing all of the agency’s merger and conduct matters, including in the software, steel, defense, industrial, financial, agriculture, telecom, media, transportation and energy industries.
Mr. Wales’ numerous antitrust representations for clients in M&A transactions during his time at a previous firm include:
- Carlyle Group’s sale of its Landmark Aviation affiliate for $2 billion to BBA/Signature Aviation;
- GE’s $3.4 billion sale of its water business to Suez as part of its merger with Baker Hughes;
- SiriusXM’s investment in Pandora;
- CommScope’s acquisition of TE Connectivity’s telecom, enterprise and wireless business for $3 billion;
- ABB’s $3.9 billion acquisition of Thomas & Betts;
- Monster Energy in its strategic partnership with the Coca-Cola Company; and
In addition to transactional matters, Mr. Wales represents clients in antitrust litigation, cartels and other types of government investigations, including representations for Deutsche Bank, Boeing, John Deere, Cardinal Health, Parker Hannifin and others.
Education:
- J.D., Syracuse University, 1995 (magna cum laude; Order of the Coif; Syracuse Law Review)
- B.A., The Pennsylvania State University, 1992
Admissions:
- New York
- District of Columbia
Government Service:
- Acting Director, Bureau of Competition, 2008-09; Deputy Director, 2006-08, Federal Trade Commission
- Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, 2001-03, U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division
Cost
Rate : $$$