Our lawyers are skilled in evaluating clients’ antitrust compliance policies and systems to minimize antitrust risks, while still allowing business objectives to be met. It is more important than ever to have an effective antitrust auditing and compliance program. Government fines and civil damages have reached levels that can threaten a company’s very existence. Moreover, the real threat of jail time for individuals is no longer constrained by US borders. Non-US executives are regularly imprisoned in the United States, and European jurisdictions are beginning to enact criminal penalties for individual cartel participants.

Since preventing antitrust enforcement incidents is always preferable to managing them after they arise, it is crucial to have a program that explains antitrust risks and effectively guides company personnel to stay within the law. An effective compliance program must involve more than a chapter in a corporate manual and an occasional lecture by in-house or outside counsel. WilmerHale designs and implements compliance programs for companies both in the United States and Europe. We also conduct antitrust audits to identify risk areas before a company is surprised by a raid on its premises, an enforcer’s approach to an employee or a grand jury subpoena, and we advise clients on corporate conduct and procedures to minimize the risk of becoming involved in an antitrust enforcement agency investigation or private antitrust litigation.

We evaluate and assist in constructing clients’ antitrust compliance policies and systems with the goal of ensuring that these systems efficiently minimize antitrust risks while still allowing business objectives to be met. We assist with antitrust compliance and systems that help facilitate effective and lawful business practices in areas such as collaborations with competitors, mergers and acquisitions, licensing of intellectual property, distribution, document creation, trade association activities, and employee hiring and compensation. We work with clients in a wide range of industries, including financial services, high tech, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, consumer products and insurance. We understand the intricacies involved in various business and sales structures.