Four Decades for Justice
Christine A. Varney is Chair of the Antitrust Practice. Ms. Varney has been widely recognized as one of the leading antitrust lawyers in the United States in both private practice and in government service, and she is the only person to have served as both the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust and as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Ms. Varney formulates global antitrust strategy for clients in connection with joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and other business transactions, including advising on business conduct or potential investments to ensure compliance with antitrust laws, securing antitrust regulatory approvals, and handling internal or governmental investigations into anticompetitive behavior. Her clients span diverse industries, including cable, financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, retail, transportation, technology and telecommunications.
From 2009 until 2011, Ms. Varney served as Assistant Attorney General and headed the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. In that role she oversaw all aspects of the Division’s operations, including merger review, criminal and civil litigation and investigations and coordination with competition regulators outside the United States.
From 1994 through 1997, Ms. Varney served as a Commissioner of the FTC. While at the FTC, she played a leading role on a broad range of competition law issues, and she is widely credited with pioneering the application of innovation market theory analysis to information technology and biotechnology transactions.
Prior to becoming FTC Commissioner, Ms. Varney served as Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet in the Clinton administration.
From 1997 when she left the FTC until her appointment as Assistant Attorney General in 2009, Ms. Varney was in private practice, representing major corporations before the DOJ and the FTC and advising her clients on a wide variety of legal and business issues.
Ms. Varney has been recognized as a leading lawyer by numerous professional publications. In 2023, she received The New York Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The National Law Journal selected her as one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” and as one of 50 “Governance, Risk & Compliance Trailblazers & Pioneers.” She was also recognized by the publication as a Mergers & Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazer. Ms. Varney was named a “Competition MVP” by Law360 and “Lawyer of the Year” by Global Competition Review (GCR). The Am Law Litigation Daily has recognized Ms. Varney as “Litigator of the Week” for her role in securing an antitrust trial win rejecting the FTC’s challenge to Illumina’s $8 billion acquisition of GRAIL. She also was featured by GCR as one of the top “Women in Antitrust” worldwide and received Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Award for “Best in Antitrust/Competition.” She was named to Lawdragon’s Hall of Fame in 2020. Ms. Varney has been recognized as a leader in antitrust law by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Lawdragon’s list of “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” Lawdragon’s list of “500 Leading Litigators in America,” Benchmark Litigation, The Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyer?, Who’s Who Legal, Crain’s New York Business and the Ethisphere Institute. She is often asked to speak publicly on the topics of antitrust, international competition, mergers and government investigations.
Ms. Varney is Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Brennan Center for Justice. She also currently serves on the Boards of Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History and Third Way. Ms. Varney is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and serves as a member of the International Bar Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, The American Law Institute and The Economic Club of New York. She has been a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, teaching the course “Antitrust in Action.”
Ms. Varney was born in Washington, D.C. She received a B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany in 1977, an M.P.A. from Syracuse University in 1982 and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.
From 2009 until 2011, Ms. Varney served as Assistant Attorney General and headed the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. In that role she oversaw all aspects of the Division’s operations, including merger review, criminal and civil litigation and investigations and coordination with competition regulators outside the United States.
From 1994 through 1997, Ms. Varney served as a Commissioner of the FTC. While at the FTC, she played a leading role on a broad range of competition law issues, and she is widely credited with pioneering the application of innovation market theory analysis to information technology and biotechnology transactions.
Prior to becoming FTC Commissioner, Ms. Varney served as Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet in the Clinton administration.
From 1997 when she left the FTC until her appointment as Assistant Attorney General in 2009, Ms. Varney was in private practice, representing major corporations before the DOJ and the FTC and advising her clients on a wide variety of legal and business issues.
Ms. Varney has been recognized as a leading lawyer by numerous professional publications. In 2023, she received The New York Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The National Law Journal selected her as one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” and as one of 50 “Governance, Risk & Compliance Trailblazers & Pioneers.” She was also recognized by the publication as a Mergers & Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazer. Ms. Varney was named a “Competition MVP” by Law360 and “Lawyer of the Year” by Global Competition Review (GCR). The Am Law Litigation Daily has recognized Ms. Varney as “Litigator of the Week” for her role in securing an antitrust trial win rejecting the FTC’s challenge to Illumina’s $8 billion acquisition of GRAIL. She also was featured by GCR as one of the top “Women in Antitrust” worldwide and received Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Award for “Best in Antitrust/Competition.” She was named to Lawdragon’s Hall of Fame in 2020. Ms. Varney has been recognized as a leader in antitrust law by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Lawdragon’s list of “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” Lawdragon’s list of “500 Leading Litigators in America,” Benchmark Litigation, The Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyer?, Who’s Who Legal, Crain’s New York Business and the Ethisphere Institute. She is often asked to speak publicly on the topics of antitrust, international competition, mergers and government investigations.
Ms. Varney is Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Brennan Center for Justice. She also currently serves on the Boards of Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History and Third Way. Ms. Varney is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and serves as a member of the International Bar Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, The American Law Institute and The Economic Club of New York. She has been a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, teaching the course “Antitrust in Action.”
Ms. Varney was born in Washington, D.C. She received a B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany in 1977, an M.P.A. from Syracuse University in 1982 and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.
American Bar Foundation
American Bar Association
International Bar Association
American Museum of Natural History
Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law
Council on Foreign Relations
The Economic Club of New York
Third Way
Benchmark Litigation
Benchmark Top 250 Women in Litigation (2023‑2014)
Best Lawyers in America
Chambers Global
Chambers USA
Crain’s New York Business
Ethisphere Institute’s “Attorneys Who Matter”
Global Competition Review
Law360
Lawdragon
Leaders League Litigation & International Arbitration Report
The Legal 500 US
The National Law Journal
New York Law Journal
Americas Women in Business Law Awards - Best in Antitrust/Competition, Euromoney Legal Media Group (2015, 2014)
Deals & Cases
December 20, 2023
On December 20, 2023, Aon plc (“Aon”), a leading global professional services firm, announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire NFP, a leading middle‑market property and casualty broker, benefits consultant, wealth manager and retirement plan advisor, from funds affiliated with NFP’s main capital sponsor, Madison Dearborn Partners, and funds affiliated with HPS Investment Partners. Under the terms of the transaction, Aon will acquire NFP for a total consideration estimated to be $13.4 billion at the time of close, which will be funded by $7 billion of cash and $6.4 billion of Aon stock. Cravath is representing Aon in connection with the transaction.
Deals & Cases
December 19, 2023
On December 11, 2023, a jury unanimously ruled in favor of Cravath client Epic Games (“Epic”) on all counts in its closely watched antitrust case against Google in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, determining—after a multiweek trial—that Google has engaged in anticompetitive behavior in the distribution of mobile apps and in the handling of in‑app payments.
Deals & Cases
July 14, 2023
On July 13, 2023, a three judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in favor of Cravath clients Louis Dreyfus Company LLC (“LDC”) and Imperial Sugar Company (“Imperial Sugar”) and unanimously affirmed an earlier decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware denying U.S. Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) request for an injunction to block LDC’s sale of the assets and business of Imperial Sugar to U.S. Sugar.
Deals & Cases
November 07, 2022
On October 26, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted Cravath’s motion to dismiss all counterclaims against Cravath client Word Collections, a professional rights organization working with comedians to procure licenses and royalties for the copyrights to the literary works underlying their comedy recordings.
Deals & Cases
September 23, 2022
On September 23, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware denied the U.S. Department of Justice’s request for an injunction blocking Louis Dreyfus Company LLC’s (“LDC”) sale of the assets and business of its subsidiary Imperial Sugar Company (“Imperial Sugar”) to U.S. Sugar. The District of Delaware’s decision in favor of the Defendants followed a four day trial in April 2022 and post-trial briefing submitted in May 2022.
Activities & Publications
March 08, 2024
On March 6, 2024, Cravath partner Christine A. Varney participated in the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development Competition Open Day in Paris. The event convened legal practitioners, economists, consultants, in‑house counsel, regulators and academics to discuss cutting‑edge topics recently addressed by the OECD Competition Committee. Christine spoke on a panel entitled “The Relationship Between Competition and Innovation,” which reviewed different approaches competition authorities have used and could use to incorporate innovation when evaluating a transaction or determining if a certain behavior is anti‑competitive, including the consideration of efficiencies, the analysis of other drivers of innovation and the design of remedies and commitments.
Activities & Publications
January 31, 2024
In January 2024, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law announced its election of Cravath partner Christine A. Varney as Co‑Chair of its Board of Directors. The Brennan Center is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to strengthen the systems of democracy and justice. In addition to her litigation practice, Christine has been involved with the Center for a number of years.
Activities & Publications
December 28, 2023
On December 22, 2023, Cravath prepared a memo for its clients entitled “Merger Guidelines Issued by FTC and DOJ.” The memo examines the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s finalized Merger Guidelines, which modify the draft guidelines released in July and replace the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines. The memo outlines the new guidelines and the additional changes made in finalizing them.
Accolades
October 09, 2023
On October 4, 2023, Cravath partner Christine A. Varney was featured by the New York Law Journal as winner of its “Lifetime Achievement Award,” in recognition of her career accomplishments as “one of the country’s foremost antitrust experts” and her indelible impact on the practice of competition law. The profile highlights her government service as both U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust and a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, as well as her work on over $1 trillion in proposed or completed transactions and work for clients including Anheuser‑Busch InBev, Delta Air Lines, Epic Games, Illumina and Time Warner.
Activities & Publications
September 29, 2023
On September 28, 2023, Cravath partner Christine A. Varney participated in the Barclays M&A Summit 2023, which was hosted by Barclays in New York. Christine spoke on a panel entitled “Getting The Deal Done: The Global Regulatory Climate From A U.S. Lens.”
Christine A. Varney is Chair of the Antitrust Practice. Ms. Varney has been widely recognized as one of the leading antitrust lawyers in the United States in both private practice and in government service, and she is the only person to have served as both the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust and as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Ms. Varney formulates global antitrust strategy for clients in connection with joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and other business transactions, including advising on business conduct or potential investments to ensure compliance with antitrust laws, securing antitrust regulatory approvals, and handling internal or governmental investigations into anticompetitive behavior. Her clients span diverse industries, including cable, financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, retail, transportation, technology and telecommunications.
From 2009 until 2011, Ms. Varney served as Assistant Attorney General and headed the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. In that role she oversaw all aspects of the Division’s operations, including merger review, criminal and civil litigation and investigations and coordination with competition regulators outside the United States.
From 1994 through 1997, Ms. Varney served as a Commissioner of the FTC. While at the FTC, she played a leading role on a broad range of competition law issues, and she is widely credited with pioneering the application of innovation market theory analysis to information technology and biotechnology transactions.
Prior to becoming FTC Commissioner, Ms. Varney served as Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet in the Clinton administration.
From 1997 when she left the FTC until her appointment as Assistant Attorney General in 2009, Ms. Varney was in private practice, representing major corporations before the DOJ and the FTC and advising her clients on a wide variety of legal and business issues.
Ms. Varney has been recognized as a leading lawyer by numerous professional publications. In 2023, she received The New York Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The National Law Journal selected her as one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” and as one of 50 “Governance, Risk & Compliance Trailblazers & Pioneers.” She was also recognized by the publication as a Mergers & Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazer. Ms. Varney was named a “Competition MVP” by Law360 and “Lawyer of the Year” by Global Competition Review (GCR). The Am Law Litigation Daily has recognized Ms. Varney as “Litigator of the Week” for her role in securing an antitrust trial win rejecting the FTC’s challenge to Illumina’s $8 billion acquisition of GRAIL. She also was featured by GCR as one of the top “Women in Antitrust” worldwide and received Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Award for “Best in Antitrust/Competition.” She was named to Lawdragon’s Hall of Fame in 2020. Ms. Varney has been recognized as a leader in antitrust law by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Lawdragon’s list of “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” Lawdragon’s list of “500 Leading Litigators in America,” Benchmark Litigation, The Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyer?, Who’s Who Legal, Crain’s New York Business and the Ethisphere Institute. She is often asked to speak publicly on the topics of antitrust, international competition, mergers and government investigations.
Ms. Varney is Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Brennan Center for Justice. She also currently serves on the Boards of Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History and Third Way. Ms. Varney is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and serves as a member of the International Bar Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, The American Law Institute and The Economic Club of New York. She has been a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, teaching the course “Antitrust in Action.”
Ms. Varney was born in Washington, D.C. She received a B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany in 1977, an M.P.A. from Syracuse University in 1982 and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.
From 2009 until 2011, Ms. Varney served as Assistant Attorney General and headed the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. In that role she oversaw all aspects of the Division’s operations, including merger review, criminal and civil litigation and investigations and coordination with competition regulators outside the United States.
From 1994 through 1997, Ms. Varney served as a Commissioner of the FTC. While at the FTC, she played a leading role on a broad range of competition law issues, and she is widely credited with pioneering the application of innovation market theory analysis to information technology and biotechnology transactions.
Prior to becoming FTC Commissioner, Ms. Varney served as Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet in the Clinton administration.
From 1997 when she left the FTC until her appointment as Assistant Attorney General in 2009, Ms. Varney was in private practice, representing major corporations before the DOJ and the FTC and advising her clients on a wide variety of legal and business issues.
Ms. Varney has been recognized as a leading lawyer by numerous professional publications. In 2023, she received The New York Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The National Law Journal selected her as one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” and as one of 50 “Governance, Risk & Compliance Trailblazers & Pioneers.” She was also recognized by the publication as a Mergers & Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazer. Ms. Varney was named a “Competition MVP” by Law360 and “Lawyer of the Year” by Global Competition Review (GCR). The Am Law Litigation Daily has recognized Ms. Varney as “Litigator of the Week” for her role in securing an antitrust trial win rejecting the FTC’s challenge to Illumina’s $8 billion acquisition of GRAIL. She also was featured by GCR as one of the top “Women in Antitrust” worldwide and received Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Award for “Best in Antitrust/Competition.” She was named to Lawdragon’s Hall of Fame in 2020. Ms. Varney has been recognized as a leader in antitrust law by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Lawdragon’s list of “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” Lawdragon’s list of “500 Leading Litigators in America,” Benchmark Litigation, The Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyer?, Who’s Who Legal, Crain’s New York Business and the Ethisphere Institute. She is often asked to speak publicly on the topics of antitrust, international competition, mergers and government investigations.
Ms. Varney is Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Brennan Center for Justice. She also currently serves on the Boards of Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History and Third Way. Ms. Varney is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and serves as a member of the International Bar Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, The American Law Institute and The Economic Club of New York. She has been a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, teaching the course “Antitrust in Action.”
Ms. Varney was born in Washington, D.C. She received a B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany in 1977, an M.P.A. from Syracuse University in 1982 and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.
American Bar Foundation
American Bar Association
International Bar Association
American Museum of Natural History
Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law
Council on Foreign Relations
The Economic Club of New York
Third Way
Benchmark Litigation
Benchmark Top 250 Women in Litigation (2023‑2014)
Best Lawyers in America
Chambers Global
Chambers USA
Crain’s New York Business
Ethisphere Institute’s “Attorneys Who Matter”
Global Competition Review
Law360
Lawdragon
Leaders League Litigation & International Arbitration Report
The Legal 500 US
The National Law Journal
New York Law Journal
Americas Women in Business Law Awards - Best in Antitrust/Competition, Euromoney Legal Media Group (2015, 2014)
Deals & Cases
December 20, 2023
On December 20, 2023, Aon plc (“Aon”), a leading global professional services firm, announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire NFP, a leading middle‑market property and casualty broker, benefits consultant, wealth manager and retirement plan advisor, from funds affiliated with NFP’s main capital sponsor, Madison Dearborn Partners, and funds affiliated with HPS Investment Partners. Under the terms of the transaction, Aon will acquire NFP for a total consideration estimated to be $13.4 billion at the time of close, which will be funded by $7 billion of cash and $6.4 billion of Aon stock. Cravath is representing Aon in connection with the transaction.
Deals & Cases
December 19, 2023
On December 11, 2023, a jury unanimously ruled in favor of Cravath client Epic Games (“Epic”) on all counts in its closely watched antitrust case against Google in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, determining—after a multiweek trial—that Google has engaged in anticompetitive behavior in the distribution of mobile apps and in the handling of in‑app payments.
Deals & Cases
July 14, 2023
On July 13, 2023, a three judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in favor of Cravath clients Louis Dreyfus Company LLC (“LDC”) and Imperial Sugar Company (“Imperial Sugar”) and unanimously affirmed an earlier decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware denying U.S. Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) request for an injunction to block LDC’s sale of the assets and business of Imperial Sugar to U.S. Sugar.
Deals & Cases
November 07, 2022
On October 26, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted Cravath’s motion to dismiss all counterclaims against Cravath client Word Collections, a professional rights organization working with comedians to procure licenses and royalties for the copyrights to the literary works underlying their comedy recordings.
Deals & Cases
September 23, 2022
On September 23, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware denied the U.S. Department of Justice’s request for an injunction blocking Louis Dreyfus Company LLC’s (“LDC”) sale of the assets and business of its subsidiary Imperial Sugar Company (“Imperial Sugar”) to U.S. Sugar. The District of Delaware’s decision in favor of the Defendants followed a four day trial in April 2022 and post-trial briefing submitted in May 2022.
Activities & Publications
March 08, 2024
On March 6, 2024, Cravath partner Christine A. Varney participated in the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development Competition Open Day in Paris. The event convened legal practitioners, economists, consultants, in‑house counsel, regulators and academics to discuss cutting‑edge topics recently addressed by the OECD Competition Committee. Christine spoke on a panel entitled “The Relationship Between Competition and Innovation,” which reviewed different approaches competition authorities have used and could use to incorporate innovation when evaluating a transaction or determining if a certain behavior is anti‑competitive, including the consideration of efficiencies, the analysis of other drivers of innovation and the design of remedies and commitments.
Activities & Publications
January 31, 2024
In January 2024, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law announced its election of Cravath partner Christine A. Varney as Co‑Chair of its Board of Directors. The Brennan Center is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to strengthen the systems of democracy and justice. In addition to her litigation practice, Christine has been involved with the Center for a number of years.
Activities & Publications
December 28, 2023
On December 22, 2023, Cravath prepared a memo for its clients entitled “Merger Guidelines Issued by FTC and DOJ.” The memo examines the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s finalized Merger Guidelines, which modify the draft guidelines released in July and replace the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines. The memo outlines the new guidelines and the additional changes made in finalizing them.
Accolades
October 09, 2023
On October 4, 2023, Cravath partner Christine A. Varney was featured by the New York Law Journal as winner of its “Lifetime Achievement Award,” in recognition of her career accomplishments as “one of the country’s foremost antitrust experts” and her indelible impact on the practice of competition law. The profile highlights her government service as both U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust and a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, as well as her work on over $1 trillion in proposed or completed transactions and work for clients including Anheuser‑Busch InBev, Delta Air Lines, Epic Games, Illumina and Time Warner.
Activities & Publications
September 29, 2023
On September 28, 2023, Cravath partner Christine A. Varney participated in the Barclays M&A Summit 2023, which was hosted by Barclays in New York. Christine spoke on a panel entitled “Getting The Deal Done: The Global Regulatory Climate From A U.S. Lens.”
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