Dallas antitrust and consumer-protection litigator Sean Royall, who was part of the team that represented AT&T in its successful 2018 trial against the U.S. Justice Department over the $86 billion Time Warner merger, is taking his practice to Sidley.
Royall, who also represented Facebook in its 2019 privacy-related investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and is representing the pharmaceutical company Allergan in two high-profile legal disputes, served as long-time chair of Gibson Dunn’s antitrust practice group.
Wednesday was Royall’s last day at Kirkland and he started at Sidley Thursday.
“The local and global platform that Sidley provides is great for a national antitrust lawyer such as me who lives in Texas,” Royall said. “The first thing that attracted me to Sidley is the culture. This is a place where partners work together in a collegial way.”
In November 2019 Royall and colleague Olivia Adendorff jumped to Kirkland & Ellis.
Sidley now has 117 lawyers in Dallas and about 85 in Houston.
“We’ve been searching for a globally respected and leading antitrust lawyer and we found him right here in Dallas,” said Yvette Ostolaza, a Dallas partner who is co-leader of Sidley’s global-litigation practice and chair-elect of the firm’s management committee. “Hiring Sean is a national play for us. Let everyone know, Sidley is hiring and we have a lot of work coming in.”
Royall earned an economics degree from Texas A&M University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Chicago in 1990. After clerking for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Royall joined Baker Botts.
But he moved to Washington, D.C., to join the antitrust practice of Gibson Dunn and then, in 2002, served as deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition. While at the FTC, Royall reported to then director Timothy Muris, who is now a senior counsel with Sidley in Washington.
“I have a significant client who is also a good close friend and he is very close to Sidley and he thought Sidley would be a good fit for me,” said Royally, who declined to identify the client. “I’ve been impressed with Sidley’s growth in Texas for a long time.”
Royall will serve as Sidley’s co-chair of the firm’s antitrust and consumer-protection litigation and investigations practice group.