Lawyer Overview

Robert Bell is a partner in the firm's Regulatory and Government Affairs Department, and a member of the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group. He joined the firm in 1999.

Mr. Bell has been practicing antitrust law in Washington, DC, for more than 20 years. He has extensive experience in securing antitrust clearance for mergers and acquisitions from both the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. He also is an experienced antitrust litigator and counselor. 

Practice

Mr. Bell's practice includes antitrust litigation; merger clearance; and antitrust counseling on issues ranging from competitor collaborations to vertical distribution arrangements. He has represented clients from a wide variety of sectors, including imaging, communications, defense, entertainment, manufacturing, mining, chemicals and transportation.

Recent Highlights

• Successfully represented a major wireless telephone company in a Department of Justice second request related to its $2.7 billion acquisition of a competing wireless carrier.
• Represented the whistleblower in a qui tam action alleging bid rigging on US AID-funded wastewater treatment projects in Egypt. The case, which was featured in a story by Kurt Eichenwald in the New York Times (April 13, 2001, p. C1), was the first time the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act have been used to expose a large multinational cartel. Following a seven-week jury trial, the jury awarded the government $104 million, which is the second largest jury award in the history of the False Claims Act. United States ex rel Miller v. Holzmann, 563 F.Supp. 2d 54 (D.D.C. 2008).
• Represented a major European airline in negotiating a settlement with the plaintiff class in the air cargo price fixing litigation pending in the Eastern District of New York.
• Successfully represented LSL Biotechnologies in its appeal to the Ninth Circuit. Deciding an issue of first impression, the Ninth Circuit held that under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act, a challenged agreement between LSL and an Israeli company did not have the “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable” effect on United States commerce required by the Act. United States v. LSL Biotechnologies, 379 F.3d 672 (9^th Cir. 2004).
• Successfully represented Eastman Kodak in the sale of its Remote Sensing Systems business to ITT. Kodak manufactured precision optics used in satellites. Although the Department of Justice issued a second request, after a lengthy review by the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense the transaction was allowed to go forward without any divestitures.
• Successfully represented United Artists in securing approval from the Antitrust Division for the acquisition of two competing movie theater chains to create the largest chain of movie theaters in the country. Mr. Bell and his colleagues persuaded the Division to clear the acquisitions with no divestitures, notwithstanding that the Division had challenged smaller movie theater acquisitions in the past and had required substantial divestitures in those cases.

Professional Activities

Mr. Bell writes regularly on antitrust topics. His articles have appeared in Antitrust, (Voluntary Hart-Scott-Rodino Filings: A Modest PRoposal (Spring 2009); Antitrust Issues Raised by B2B Exchanges (Spring 2000)), Global Competition Review (U.S. Regulatory Aspects of Transnational Defense Mergers, March 2003, P.9), Legal Times, and National Law Journal. He has testified before the Federal Trade Commission on "Geographic Market Definition in the Presence of Global Competition" and served as a moderator of a Corporate Legal Times Roundtable, "Antitrust Issues in the International Market."  Mr. Bell also speaks regularly and was a panelist at the 2003 ABA Business Law Section Spring Meeting. He also served on the Editorial Board for the ABA Section of Antitrust Law's 2002 Annual Review of Antitrust Law Developments.

Honors and Awards

• Recognized for exceptional standing in the legal community in the area of antitrust law in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 editions
• Recommended as one of the world's leading competition/antitrust attorneys in the PLC Cross-border Competition Handbook 2006/07 
• Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, in the area of antitrust law for the 2010,  2006 and 2005-2006 editions

Areas of Practice

• Antitrust and Competition
• Media and Entertainment
• Antitrust Litigation
• Regulatory and Government Affairs

West Practice Categories

Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Antitrust Law, Art, Communications & Media Law, Entertainment, Entertainment, Sports & Leisure Law, Print Media, Radio, Television & Film

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• New York

Education

• Stanford Law School, 1980
  JD
• University of Cambridge, 1977
  MA
• Dartmouth College, 1975
  BA
  Honors: summa cum laude

Published Works

• Voluntary Hart-Scott-Rodino Filings: A Modest Proposal, 2009
• Fines for HSR Violations Increase; Basic HSR Threshold Raised, 2009
• FTC: Investment Funds to Pay $800,000 in Civil Penalties for HSR Violations, 2008
• Clayton Act Threshold Changes: Basic HSR Threshold Raised to $63.1 Million, 2008
• Investment Fund Penalized $1.1 Million for Late HSR Notifications, 2007
• Clayton Act Threshold Changes: Basic HSR Threshold Raised to $59.8 Million, 2007
• ANTITRUST AND COMPETITION LAW UPDATE: Agencies Send a Strong Message on HSR Filing Requirements to Bill Gates and Others, 2004
• ANTITRUST AND COMPETITION LAW UPDATE: The Summary Judgment Standard and Pleading Requirements for Conspiracy Claims Relying on the Doctrine of Conscious Parallelism, 2003
• WCP’s Robert Bell, Leon Greenfield, Eric Mahr, and Deidre Waters contributed three articles to this month’s special defense industry issue of Global Competition Review. In Defence and Competition, Leon Greenfield identifies some of the unique characteris, 2003
• ANTITRUST AND COMPETITION LAW UPDATE: New Department of Justice Actions on Gun-Jumping and Market Allocation Provide Guidance, Warnings, 2003
• ANTITRUST AND COMPETITION LAW UPDATE: FTC Bureau of Competition Implements New Guidelines for Merger Investigations, 2002
• Antitrust Issues Raised by B2B Exchanges, 2000
• U.S. Regulatory Aspects of Transnational Defense Mergers, 2000

Address

1875 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006

Phones

+1 202 663 6533 (Business Phone)

Faxes

+1 202 663 6363 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.wilmerhale.com