Shawn Johnson is a partner and co-chair of Crowell & Moring's Antitrust & Competition Group and is located in the firm's Washington, D.C. office.
Shawn's practice involves antitrust counseling on a wide variety of subjects, with particular focus on transactional antitrust matters such as mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures. Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500, Super Lawyers, Global Competition Review and others, Shawn has guided numerous transactions through the U.S. and foreign antitrust/competition review process and is experienced at drafting and negotiating the antitrust aspects of complex transactions.
Shawn also regularly advises clients in connection with both grand jury and civil non-merger investigations, as well as issues related to compliance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Shawn has represented clients before the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Defense, the European Commission, the Canadian Competition Bureau, the Federal Communications Commission, and many other foreign antitrust agencies and state attorneys general.
Shawn has extensive experience advising on antitrust issues involving government contractors and other companies active in a broad range of industries, including aerospace, defense, healthcare, telecommunications, information technology, chemicals, metals, and natural resources.
Representative Merger Experience
- Representing United Technologies in connection with its $135 billion merger with The Raytheon Company, which The Deal named its 2020 "Deal of the Year," its $30 billion acquisition of Rockwell Collins, and its $16.5 billion acquisition of Goodrich.
- Representing Sikorsky Aircraft Company in connection with its $9 billion sale to Lockheed Martin.
- Representing Humana in connection with its proposed $37 billion merger with Aetna, as well as its acquisitions of Arcadian Health, Curo Health Services, and the Kindred at Home division of Kindred Healthcare.
- Representing Coventry Health Care in connection with its $5.7 billion sale to Aetna.
- Representing Pratt & Whitney in connection with the $550 million sale of its Rocketdyne business unit to GenCorp.
- Representing Alcoa in connection with its $2.85 billion acquisition of Firth Rixson and its $1.5 billion acquisition of RTI International Metals.
- Representing AT&T (and previously SBC) in connection with numerous transactions, including its acquisitions of AT&T Wireless, AT&T Corp., BellSouth, DirecTV, and Time Warner.
- Representing DuPont in connection with its $6.3 billion acquisition of Danisco and the $4.9 billion divestiture of its automotive paints business to the Carlyle Group.
- Representing Clean Harbors in connection with its acquisitions of both Thermo Fluids and the industrial cleaning services division of Veolia North America.
- Representing Rio Tinto in connection with the $761 million sale of the Jacobs Ranch coal mine to Arch Coal, as well as the divestiture of its Alaskan gold and silver mining operations.
- Representing Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Commerzbank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and J.P. Morgan in connection with the formation of FXSpotStream LLC.
- Representing Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and UBS in the formation of ICE US Trust LLC.
- Representing Citadel Securities, GETCO, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS in their purchase of a significant equity interest in NYSE Liffe U.S.
- Several confidential transactions involving U.S. and foreign intelligence and defense contractors.
Representative Litigation Experience
- Representing a major metals manufacturer in connection with an investigation by the Department of Justice and various international competition authorities into alleged pricing fixing; closed without prosecution.
- Representing a major multinational corporation in connection with an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into potential monopolization and abuse of standard setting concerns; closed without prosecution.
- Representing a major multinational corporation in connection with an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into potential monopolization and exclusive dealing concerns; closed without prosecution.
- Representing an agricultural cooperative in connection with an investigation by the Department of Justice into alleged price fixing; closed without prosecution.
- Representing several clients in connection with internal antitrust investigations.
Shawn is a member of the Antitrust Law Section of the American Bar Association and the American Health Lawyers Association. He is a regular speaker on the antitrust issues related to mergers and acquisitions and has previously served on the Editorial Board of several ABA publications, including Mergers and Acquisitions: Understanding the Antitrust Issues and Antitrust Compliance: Perspectives and Resources for Corporate Counselors.
Shawn received his J.D. from the Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he served as managing editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He received a B.A. in economics and political science from Boston College. Shawn is admitted in both the District of Columbia and Virginia.