WilmerHale is pleased to announce that Jennifer Milici, former Chief Trial Counsel for the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, and Dominic Vote, former Assistant Director of the Bureau and head of the Mergers II Division, are joining the firm as partners.
Milici and Vote will become part of WilmerHale’s industry-leading Antitrust Group and will be based in the firm’s Washington, DC office. Milici will also join WilmerHale’s Trial Practice. Milici and Vote anticipate officially beginning at the firm in March.
Milici and Vote are joining an expanding WilmerHale Antitrust Group that also includes newly elevated partners Anne Vallery and Nana Wilberforce. The Group seeks to meet the needs of clients as federal antitrust authorities increase their scrutiny of companies and mergers alongside a rise in private litigation.
Milici and Vote also further expand WilmerHale’s roster of former senior officials from the FTC and other regulatory and enforcement agencies. Frank Gorman, former acting director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, joined WilmerHale recently, as has John Wells former Deputy Enforcement Director at the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“We believe the combination of Jennifer and Dom, together with our Antitrust Group’s existing capabilities, will be extremely attractive to clients with complex mergers, conduct investigations and trials,” said Robert Novick, WilmerHale’s co-managing partner. Novick added that Milici’s and Vote’s experience and capabilities will strongly complement the firm’s strategic goal to significantly grow its corporate and M&A practice in the next several years.
As Chief Trial Counsel for the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, Milici led the Bureau’s Litigation Group and managed its litigation and trial efforts Bureau-wide. She has significant trial experience, including acting as lead trial counsel in cases brought by the FTC. In 2021, she also served as an Acting Deputy Director of the Bureau, managing the enforcement activities of three merger divisions. Over the course of her career at the FTC, Milici has worked on many of the most significant merger and conduct matters that came before the agency.
Milici joined the FTC in 2014 after private practice at another Washington law firm.
“I am thrilled to be joining WilmerHale,” Milici said. “I’ll be teaming up not only with some of the best antitrust practitioners anywhere but some of the best trial attorneys in the country. WilmerHale provides an ideal platform for my reentry to private practice.”
Serving since 2019 as Assistant Director, Mergers II, Vote led the FTC’s reviews of mergers in a wide variety of sectors including semiconductors and other computer hardware and software as well as industrial-related sectors such as chemicals and mining. Vote has also served as lead trial counsel in federal court and administrative merger trials brought by the FTC.
Vote has broad experience coordinating the review of multi-jurisdictional transactions, particularly with active jurisdictions such as the European Commission and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. Vote also gained extensive experience at the FTC working on life sciences and pharmaceutical matters involving both mergers and conduct.
Vote joined the FTC in 2010, before which he was in private practice at a Washington, DC firm.
“Antitrust regulation in the US is currently facing a seismic shift characterized by increased scrutiny of mergers and ramped up enforcement activity across the board,” Vote said. “WilmerHale’s strength in both technology and life sciences provides an excellent fit for me as I transition back to private practice and I look forward to sharing my insights with WilmerHale’s clients at this critical time.”
Milici received her BA from the Eugene Lang College, New School for Social Research in 1992 and her JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2003 where she ranked first in her class. She was a law clerk for US Circuit Judge James L. Dennis of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Richard N. Palmer of the Connecticut Supreme Court, Hartford, CT.
Vote received his BA, cum laude, from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2002. He received his JD, magna cum laude, from American University, Washington College of Law in 2007. He was a law clerk for US District Judge Peter J. Messitte, District of Maryland, Greenbelt, MD.