People

William J. Kolasky

Partner

Kolasky, William J.

William Kolasky is a partner in the firm's Regulatory and Government Affairs Department, and a former chair of the firm's Antitrust and Competition Practice Group.

Mr. Kolasky has been practicing antitrust law in Washington DC for over 35 years and served a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice. While at Justice, he was one of the architects of the International Competition Network, a network of over 100 competition authorities worldwide designed to promote great international cooperation and convergence among those authorities.

Practice

Mr. Kolasky's practice extends across the full range of antitrust litigation and counseling. He regularly represents clients in antitrust litigation before courts all over the country. He also represents clients in criminal and civil investigations before both the Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission. He has secured antitrust clearance from the two agencies for more than 100 mergers and acquisitions, and has coordinated merger reviews in multiple other jurisdictions around the world. He also regularly counsels clients about antitrust aspects of a wide variety of business arrangements from joint ventures to distribution arrangement.

Honors & Awards

  • Listed in the 2010, 2012 and 2013 editions of Benchmark Litigation for his leading antitrust practice
  • Recognized as a leader in his field in the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 editions of Who's Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists
  • Recognized as a leader in the competition/antitrust field in Chambers Global 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013
  • Recipient of Global Competition Review's 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Nominated by in-house counsel and peers for inclusion in the Guide to the World's Leading Competition & Antitrust Lawyers, 8th Edition
  • Consistently recognized as a national leader in antitrust in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 editions)
  • Recognized by his peers as one of the world's leading antitrust attorneys in Legal Media Group's The Best of the Best 2006 and The Best of the Best 2011
  • Selected by his peers as one of The Best Lawyers in America in the area of antitrust law each year since 2005
  • Selected by his peers as a "Super Lawyer" in the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 editions of Washington DC SuperLawyers

Publications & News

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May 24, 2013

Chambers USA 2013 Final Results Announced

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business today announced its final rankings for the 2013 edition, in which 93 WilmerHale lawyers and 44 firm practice areas have been recognized as leading in their field.

May 21, 2013

WilmerHale Antitrust Attorneys Listed in International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists 2013

Eleven WilmerHale antitrust attorneys were recently named to the International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists 2013 listing.

April 11, 2013

WilmerHale Partner William Kolasky Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Partner Bill Kolasky was honored with the Global Competition Review’s (GCR) 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award during the GCR’s third annual awards ceremony on Tuesday, April 9, in Washington DC.

April 1, 2013

Robert H. Jackson: How a “Country Lawyer” Converted Franklin Roosevelt into a Trustbuster

An article by Partner William Kolasky, published in Antitrust, an American Bar Association publication, Vol. 27, No. 2, pages 85-92.

October 1, 2012

Antitrust Litigation: What’s Changed in Twenty-Five Years?

An article by Partner William Kolasky, published in Antitrust, an American Bar Association publication, Vol. 27, No. 1.

June 7, 2012

Chambers USA 2012 Final Results Announced

April 4, 2012

The Role of Anti-Cartel Compliance Programs In Preventing Cartel Behavior

An article by William Kolasky and Joseph Murphy, published in Antitrust, an American Bar Association publication, Vol. 26, No. 2, pages 61-64.

March 30, 2012

Chambers USA 2012 Preliminary Results Announced

March 27, 2012

WilmerHale Advises SS&C Technologies in $906.5 Million Bid Takeover

March 16, 2012

Chambers Global 2012 Ranks 29 WilmerHale Lawyers, 12 Practices

Recent Highlights

  • Secured antitrust clearance for the mergers of the two largest regulated medical waste treatment providers and the two largest pallet suppliers in the US.
  • Secured dismissal of an antitrust class action challenging the bundling of cable programming and successfully defended the dismissal on appeal in the Ninth Circuit.
  • Settled all remaining claims against a major insurance carrier in the massive Insurance Brokerage multidistrict litigation after persuading the Third Circuit to affirm the dismissal of all federal antitrust and RICO claims against our client.

Professional Activities

Mr. Kolasky publishes and speaks regularly on antitrust law subjects in both the United States and Europe. He has taught antitrust law at the American University's Washington College of Law. Mr. Kolasky has been active in the Section on Antitrust Law of the American Bar Association for many years and currently serves as an Associate Editor for their Antitrust Magazine.

Practices

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Education

JD, magna cum laude, Harvard Law School, 1971, Note Editor, Harvard Law Review

AB, magna cum laude, Dartmouth College, 1968

Bar Admissions

District of Columbia

Clerkships

The Hon. Bailey Aldrich, US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 1971 - 1972