Baker Botts Adds Ex-Antitrust Prosecutor Huston From Sidley
Latham, Sidley and DOJ alum Peter Huston said he wants to help Texas-based Baker Botts build out its antitrust practice on the West Coast.
November 16, 2018 at 02:50 AM
3 minute read
Peter Huston, a former assistant chief in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, is the latest addition to Baker Botts' San Francisco office, joining the firm from Sidley Austin.
Huston will be based in Baker Botts' San Francisco office.
“Baker Botts has really built a truly world-class international antitrust and competition practice, and they are expanding it not only worldwide, but especially here in the Bay Area,” said Huston. “It was a great opportunity for me to come over.”
He said the move was “not primarily about money,” but for the opportunity to help the Texas-based firm build out its antitrust practice on the West Coast.
Huston joined Sidley's antitrust, white-collar and complex commercial litigation practices as a partner in 2015. Before that, he spent six years as a federal prosecutor supervising criminal cartel matters and civil merger matters. Earlier he spent 19 years at Latham & Watkins, including 11 years as a partner.
“Private practice offers a number of challenges that you can't necessarily get working for the government,” Huston said of his decision to return to private practice. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a prosecutor with the antitrust division, but the kind of problems that are faced by clients, especially here in the Bay Area, go beyond those which are taken up by the antitrust division.”
During his tenure at the DOJ, Huston led the government's criminal price-fixing prosecution of AU Optronics Corp. and the post-merger challenge of Bazaarvoice Inc.'s acquisition of PowerReviews Inc. In the AUO case, the government won guilty verdicts in 2012 against the company and two executives. The agency's challenge to Bazaarvoice's acquisition of a rival in the market for online ratings and reviews resulted in the company divesting all the assets it gained in the deal.
“Peter is an outstanding lawyer with over 25 years of experience in the antitrust, complex commercial, white-collar and high stakes criminal and civil litigation arena. His government and private sector experience will add tremendous value for our clients and speaks to the expansion of our Antitrust Practice and the momentum and growth we are seeing in the Bay area,” said a statement from Andrew Baker, managing partner of Baker Botts.
John Taladay, co-chair of the firm's antitrust practice, added: “Peter is the second acclaimed antitrust partner to recently join our San Francisco office. Together with Stuart Plunkett, who joined Baker Botts in 2016, Peter's addition reaffirms that San Francisco is an integral part of our global antitrust solution.”
Firmwide, Baker Botts has about 50 lawyers working in its antitrust practice. Last week, the firm recruited Hogan Lovells' outgoing Brussels managing partner Matthew Levitt, a well-known antitrust lawyer in the EU, as it gears up for a renewed expansion in London.
In the Bay Area, the Am Law 100 firm recently saw a three-lawyer intellectual property group, led by partner Harper Batts, leave to join Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton's Silicon Valley office. Baker Botts said it now has 22 lawyers in its San Francisco office and 34 attorneys in Palo Alto.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllFaegre Drinker Adds Three Former Federal Prosecutors From Greenberg Traurig
4 minute readAnapol Weiss Acquires Boutique Led by Star Litigator Alexandra Walsh
5 minute readPierson Ferdinand Lures Veteran M&A Specialist From Sheppard Mullin in Silicon Valley
4 minute readTrending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250