By Mark Curriden, JD
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
Allan Van Fleet, widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading antitrust lawyers, has moved his law practice 20 floors up the Wells Fargo Bank Building in Houston and has joined McDermott Will & Emery as a partner.
The Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law, Van Fleet and associate Nicholas G. Grimmer jumped from Greenberg Traurig to the 1,000-lawyer McDermott, which has 20 lawyers in its Houston office.
Van Fleet has reunited with McDemott partner Alison Smith, who practiced with Van Fleet at Vinson & Elkins for many years. Smith was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1989 to 1991 and is currently representing Anadarko Petroleum in its litigation against BP.
Van Fleet said Thursday that healthcare, information technology and energy are the three business sectors witnessing the most antitrust litigation activity.
He also says that the Obama Administration has not been as aggressive in prosecuting antitrust matters as many so-called experts predicted.
“The fact is that antitrust enforcement has been bipartisan,” he says. “President Bush II’s administration was pretty aggressive.”
Van Fleet points out that “Bush 43” holds the record for amount of jail time and fines handed out for antitrust violations.
Steven Spears, who is managing partner of McDermott’s Houston office, said that Van Fleet has more than 30 years’ experience in antitrust litigation matters, and an impressive track record in securing merger clearances for clients across a number of industries.
“Allan brings a tremendous pedigree of senior-level experience and knowledge to our Houston office,“ said Spears, managing partner of McDermott’s Houston office. “It has always been our goal in Houston to build this office around the very best attorneys Texas has to offer. With these two great additions, we continue to grow our office across multiple disciplines to offer a full suite of top tier legal services.”
Van Fleet received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, graduating first in his class, and a B.A. from Rice University.
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