WilmerHale Welcomes Ryan Danks, Former DOJ Antitrust Director of Civil Enforcement

WilmerHale Welcomes Ryan Danks, Former DOJ Antitrust Director of Civil Enforcement

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WilmerHale is pleased to announce that Ryan Danks, former Director of Civil Enforcement for the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, has joined the firm as a partner in its industry-leading Antitrust and Competition Group.

Danks, the only person in more than a generation who served as a senior career enforcer in both the Antitrust Division’s Civil and Criminal Enforcement Programs, will use his comprehensive experience to advise clients on merger strategy and defense, government investigations, civil and criminal antitrust enforcement, compliance, and litigation. Based in the Washington DC office, he will also be cross-listed in the firm’s Government and Regulatory Litigation Practice.

Danks joins the firm following a distinguished two-decade Justice Department career that spanned the full range of the Antitrust Division’s civil and criminal enforcement efforts. As the Director of Civil Enforcement from 2022 until December 2025, Danks led the Antitrust Division’s civil enforcement nationwide, including merger review, civil conduct investigations, HSR Act enforcement, and civil antitrust litigation. Danks also has significant criminal antitrust knowledge, having served as Chief of the Washington Criminal I Section from 2018 to 2022, during which he led some of the nation’s most high-profile cartel enforcement matters. His leadership roles capped off extensive experience as a trial attorney and prosecutor in both enforcement programs, and service as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General. In December 2025, Danks received the Neil E. Roberts Award for Excellence in Antitrust Enforcement from the Division in recognition of his career-long contributions.

“Ryan brings an exceptionally rare perspective shaped by his experience as a leader of DOJ’s civil and criminal antitrust enforcement efforts,” said Joel Green, WilmerHale’s Deputy Managing Partner. “He understands not only how the Antitrust Division sets enforcement priorities, but how those priorities translate into investigations, charging decisions, and litigation strategies, giving our clients powerful insights.”

“Ryan’s holistic understanding of how DOJ evaluates competitive harm, builds cases, exercises prosecutorial discretion, and approaches litigation is an invaluable asset to clients,” said Hartmut Schneider, Chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice. “Ryan’s experience is unique in both scope and substance. His arrival further reinforces WilmerHale’s position as a global destination for the most complex antitrust and regulatory enforcement matters.”

“WilmerHale has long been recognized for the breadth of its outstanding antitrust practice covering litigation, counseling, and cartel defense. It’s also important to me that the firm has long demonstrated a deep respect for government service,” said Danks. “I am excited to join a firm that handles the most consequential civil and criminal antitrust matters and to help clients navigate an increasingly complex enforcement environment.”

Danks earned his J.D, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School in 2002 and his B.A., magna cum laude, from DePauw University in 1999.

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