Ryan Harsch

Senior Counsel | He/Him/His

Overview

Ryan Harsch brings to Crowell & Moring’s Antitrust and Competition Group more than a decade of frontline government enforcement experience, having served as a staff attorney in the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Ryan’s practice focuses on merger and non-merger antitrust investigations litigation, and counseling, including horizontal and vertical transactions, monopolization, price-fixing, joint ventures, and related competition issues. 

At the FTC, Ryan led and played pivotal roles in numerous significant government investigations of mergers and potential anticompetitive conduct. Having handled every aspect of merger investigations from inception through Second Requests, remedies, trial, and appeal, Ryan helps clients navigate the merger review process by offering unique insight into how federal agencies analyze complex transactions and make enforcement decisions. Ryan also developed and led major non-merger investigations involving allegations of horizontal agreements among health care providers, exclusive dealing, rebating, serial acquisitions, bundling, and other vertical restraints. His portfolio at the FTC spanned health care and technology platforms as well as industrial and consumer products, giving him experience with a wide range of industries. 

Ryan served as an integral member of the FTC’s trial and appellate team in Penn State Hershey/Pinnacle, a matter that produced a key precedential decision from the Third Circuit validating the FTC’s approach to hospital mergers. He also played a core role in numerous other matters resulting in merger abandonments or divestitures, including Amazon’s proposed acquisition of iRobot, as well as      Navicent/Houston (hospitals), Emerson/Pentair (industrial valve products), and Becton Dickinson/Bard (medical devices).  

Prior to joining the FTC, Ryan spent nearly eight years as a litigator in private practice at another major law firm, where he practiced antitrust litigation and complex commercial litigation, including securities, consumer protection, and business disputes. Ryan also has maintained an active pro bono practice, frequently representing asylum seekers in deportation proceedings and victims of domestic violence in family court. 

Career & Education

    • Federal Trade Commission
      • Staff Attorney, Bureau of Competition, 2015-2026
    • Federal Trade Commission
      • Staff Attorney, Bureau of Competition, 2015-2026
    • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 2007
    • Duke University, B.A., 2002
    • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 2007
    • Duke University, B.A., 2002
    • New York
    • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
    • New York
    • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Representative Matters

  • Primary role on the FTC’s trial and appellate team in Penn State Hershey/Pinnacle.
  • Primary role in the FTC’s Amazon/iRobot investigation.
  • Member of the FTC’s successful teams in:
    • Navicent/Houston (hospitals)
    • Emerson/Pentair (industrial valve products)
    • Becton Dickinson/Bard (medical devices) 
  • *Represented national title insurance company in series of putative price-fixing class actions and secured dismissal of claims in multiple federal courts and affirmance in multiple appellate courts. 
  • *Represented Chinese Vitamin C manufacturer in In re Vitamin C Antitrust Litigation and helped secure favorable settlement for client prior to trial. 
  • *Represented generic pharmaceutical company in class action alleging violations of federal securities fraud laws. 

* Matters marked with an asterisk were completed prior to joining Crowell & Moring LLP.