Lawyer Overview

Jeffrey Ayer is a counsel in the firm's Regulatory and Government Affairs Department, and a member of the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group. He joined the firm in 1998.

Practice

Mr. Ayer has a broad-based antitrust practice, including merger clearance, litigation in the federal district and appellate courts, civil non-merger investigations and antitrust counseling. He has worked with clients to identify filing obligations in foreign jurisdictions throughout the world that impose pre-merger notification requirements, and has worked closely with local counsel in securing clearance in jurisdictions such as the European Union, Germany, South Africa, Korea, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Poland, and Turkey. He has also worked with lawyers in the Aviation, Communications and Securities Departments to formulate and draft economic arguments for proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Department of Transportation. Outside the antitrust and competition areas, Mr. Ayer has conducted internal investigations concerning accounting irregularities and other potential securities violations.

Recent Highlights

• Represented Mayne Pharma Ltd. in its acquisition by Hospira Inc. The FTC’s clearance decision required no divestitures material to the transaction and came only two and a half months after the Commission initiated a Second Request investigation.
• Represented Regal Entertainment in obtaining antitrust clearance for several transactions in the movie theater industry, including Regal’s merger with United Artists Theatre Company, and its acquisitions of Edwards Theatres, Signature Theatres, Eastern Federal Theatres, and Consolidated Theatres.
• As part of the firm’s district court and appellate litigation teams in United States v. LSL Biotechnologies, Inc., Mr. Ayer helped convince the district court to dismiss, and the appellate court to affirm the dismissal of, the government’s case on the grounds that US courts lacked jurisdiction under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act.
• Represented a client before the Antitrust Division in a market allocation investigation that had been handled by another firm for three years, helping to persuade the Antitrust Division in less than six months to close its investigation with no enforcement action.
• On behalf of the Special Investigative Committee of the WorldCom Board of Directors, Mr. Ayer worked with our Securities Department to conduct an internal investigation concerning alleged accounting irregularities and corporate governance issues.

Areas of Practice

• Antitrust and Competition
• Regulatory and Government Affairs

West Practice Categories

Antitrust & Trade Regulation

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• Arizona

Education

• University of Arizona College of Law, 1995
  JD
  Honors: summa cum laude
• Rice University, 1991
  BA

Published Works

• Coca-Cola/Huiyuan: China Prohibits Its First Merger Under the AML, 2009
• Fines for HSR Violations Increase; Basic HSR Threshold Raised, 2009
• Law 360: Review and Challenge of Unreported Deals, 2009, 2009
• FTC: Investment Funds to Pay $800,000 in Civil Penalties for HSR Violations, 2008
• Antitrust Agencies Challenge Two Closed Acquisitions, 2008
• FTC v. Whole Foods: FTC Scores Premium Victory in D.C. Circuit, 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
• Vertical Mergers in the United States, 2006
• FTC Announces New Guidelines for Second Requests, 2006
• ANTITRUST AND COMPETITION LAW UPDATE: FTC Bureau of Competition Implements New Guidelines for Merger Investigations, 2002

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