Lawyers React to Proposed New Merger Guidelines

Crowell & Moring LLP Antitrust Group partner and co-chair Robert A. Lipstein is featured for his comments on the potential impact of the proposed new guidelines released by United States antitrust regulators, outlining how deals between competitors are scrutinized by the agencies. According to Lipstein, "Given the initial set of questions posed by the agencies at the start of the guidelines revision process, the draft guidelines contain few surprises. As expected, the market share screens have been raised to more closely correspond with actual agency practice. At the same time, and also as expected, the draft guidelines downplay the importance of market definition in the merger review process, and emphasize that the agencies will apply a number of tests to assess more directly the competitive effects of transactions."