Insights

Washington – January 3, 2022: Crowell & Moring elected 13 lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2022. The firm also promoted seven to the position of senior counsel and 19 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s London, New York, and Washington, D.C. offices and from across several practice groups, including Advertising & Media; Antitrust & Competition; Corporate; Energy; Environment & Natural Resources; Government Contracts; Health Care; Technology & Intellectual Property; International Dispute Resolution; Litigation; Mass Tort, Product, and Consumer Litigation; and Privacy & Cybersecurity.

Washington – December 21, 2020: Crowell & Moring advised Olam International Limited (OIL) in its acquisition of the US-based chile pepper business (CPB) of Mizkan America, Inc., a major maker of condiments and sauces, for US$108.5 million. New Mexico-based CPB is one of the world’s leading suppliers of premium green chiles, jalapeños, and enchilada sauces. This acquisition, conducted through OIL’s subsidiary, Olam Americas Inc., is the first major acquisition for Olam Food Ingredients (OFI), the new operating group created after the reorganization within OIL earlier this year. The transaction is subject to US antitrust regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, which are expected to complete in January 2021

Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater of the Department of Justice, and Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Mark Meador of the Federal Trade Commission, have each looked to the history of conservative voices to chart a path forward for antitrust enforcement in the second Trump Administration. Within the last three weeks, AAG Slater delivered remarks to the University of Notre Dame Law School, Chairman Ferguson delivered remarks at the International Competition Network Annual Conference, and Commissioner Meador shared his policy aims in an FTC paper and a speech to George Washington University. The enforcers emphasized the need for robust antitrust enforcement to break private monopolies and other anticompetitive arrangements. These enforcers appear to align on priorities, though differing slightly in methods, grounding their rationale in what they describe as traditional conservative values, while at the same time distancing themselves from previous Republican administrations which have emphasized anti-cartel policies and an otherwise preference for limited intervention in markets.

Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson announced on February 24, 2025, that the FTC will create the agency’s “first-ever” labor task force, signaling the agency’s continued focus on competition in labor markets, answering an open question from companies as to the fate of the agency’s no-poach and non-compete enforcement priorities. On February 26 Chair Ferguson followed up on his announcement with a Directive Regarding Labor Markets Task Force, providing additional details on the task force and the agency’s priorities.

In the last days of the Biden Administration, the Antitrust Division (DOJ) took the rare step of bringing two separate enforcement actions relating to violations of the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. The DOJ announced a record $5.6 million civil penalty for “gun jumping” in connection with a 2021 acquisition of a crude oil producer. Days later, the agency sued a private equity fund for violating the HSR rules by failing to make required notifications and omitting or altering required “Item 4” documents.