Due Diligence: Antitrust Issues

Summary

Even in the very earliest stages of planning a merger or an acquisition, it is never too soon to begin considering the antitrust issues. In fact, it is critical to provide parties guidance about ensuring compliance with the antitrust laws during due diligence, including guidance on avoiding inappropriate information sharing (i.e., complying with Section 1 of the Sherman Act), creating documents related to the transaction and the potential impact of those documents in a government investigation, and joint defense/common interest privilege arrangements. This Practice Note addresses these issues.