Gone are the days when companies could simply agree with a handshake not to poach each other's IT staff. Today, violations in the labor market are receiving heightened scrutiny and are being addressed with greater severity. Host Bill Batchelor is joined by three Skadden colleagues to discuss the rapidly evolving enforcement landscape. Jim Fredricks, antitrust/competition partner in Washington, D.C., breaks down the U.S. prosecution strategy. Aurora Luoma, antitrust/competition partner in London, and Margot Sève, white collar defense and investigations partner in Paris, describe the environment in Europe. Tune in for valuable insights on why it is essential for clients to address labor law issues within their compliance programs.

Name: Bill Batchelor

Title: Partner, Antitrust/Competition

Specialty: Bill has 20 years of EU and U.K. competition law experience and focuses his practice on investigations, including abuse of dominance, cartels and vertical agreements.

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Name: Aurora Luoma

What she does: Aurora has a broad practice covering key areas of competition law, including international merger control, antitrust investigations, state aid and sectoral regulation. She particularly focuses on complex global mergers in the EU and U.K.

Organization: Skadden

Words of wisdom: “We've seen the U.K. competition authority make statements that tie in enforcement in the labor market to wider policy priorities. So, in a recent speech, the CMA’s chief executive, Sarah Cardell, emphasized that well-functioning labor markets are widely recognized as an important driver of economic growth.”

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Name: Jim Fredricks

What he does: Drawing on over two decades of experience as an antitrust prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, Jim counsels and defends clients in all types of antitrust investigations and prosecutions, as well as other complex and multijurisdictional actions brought by government enforcers, including price fixing, bid rigging, market allocations, no-poach agreements, algorithmic pricing and criminal monopolization.

Organization: Skadden

Words of wisdom: “The United States is very clear in its position that wage fixing, no-poach are irredeemable in the same way as price fixing and customer allocations. And so, the per se rule applies, which means, as a matter of law, it's unlawful regardless of any...

The antitrust landscape in both the EU and U.S. is rapidly evolving as legacy legal frameworks, including Article 102, are being adapted to address digital platform dominance and new forms of monopolistic behavior. With the arrival of Teresa Ribera to the European Commission and a new U.S. administration, enforcement priorities are shifting toward digital markets, with a particular emphasis on speedy investigations, compliance and innovative theories of harm that go beyond traditional price and output concerns. Host Bill Batchelor unpacks the latest developments with Skadden colleagues Michael Frese and Justine Haimi. The discussion highlights recent high-profile cases involving Google, Apple and Amazon, examining the use of commitment decisions and the growing influence of the Digital Markets Act.

Name: Bill Batchelor

Title: Partner, Antitrust/Competition

Specialty: Bill focuses his practice on conduct investigations, including abuse of dominance, cartels and vertical agreements.

Connect: LinkedIn

Name: Michael Frese

What he does: Michael has more than 10 years of experience advising companies on all aspects of EU competition law and various areas of EU and national market regulation, including the Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act.

Organization: Skadden

Words of wisdom: “In August 2024, the commission issued draft guidelines and exclusionary abuses. These guidelines were meant to help undertakings self-assess their practices, but also to provide guidance to courts. One is hard pressed to find clear guidance in these draft guidelines other than the notion that the commission should have wide discretion.”

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Name: Justine Haimi

What she does: Justine represents clients in connection with the antitrust aspects of litigation, mergers and acquisitions and advisory matters. She has worked with clients across a diverse range of industries, including health care, medical devices, insurance, consumer goods, telecommunications, energy and pharmaceuticals.

Organization: Skadden

Words of wisdom: “President Trump has appointed Andrew Ferguson as chairman of the FTC and Gail Slater as the assistant attorney general responsible for antitrust at the DOJ. Both agency heads have stated that they plan to continue investigating big tech and more vigorously crack down on monopolies, but we may also expect to see some shifts in enforcement from the prior...

Antitrust premerger notification just became more complex. The Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act premerger form underwent substantial changes in February 2025, requiring significantly more information from merging parties. Host Rita Sinkfield Belin and her Skadden colleagues Joe Rancour and Joe Ciani-Dausch offer insights on the new requirements. The discussion highlights the 10 most notable changes, explores how these updates are being implemented and provides initial observations on what may lie ahead.

Name: Rita Sinkfield Belin

Title: Counsel, Antitrust/Competition

Specialty: Rita advises on the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act review process required to obtain federal antitrust approval for various types of acquisitions, including large, complex M&A and joint venture transactions.

Connect: LinkedIn

Name: Joe Ciani-Dausch

What he does: Joe represents clients in antitrust aspects of mergers and acquisitions, litigation at the trial and appellate court levels, arbitration and counseling.

Organization: Skadden

Words of wisdom: “The FTC itself estimated that it would take three times as much time on average to prepare the filing, even more in the case where there are overlaps between the parties. And, as we're preparing filings under the new rules, we're definitely seeing that that is, if anything, I think an underestimate.”

Connect: LinkedIn

Name: Joe Rancour

What he does: Joe represents clients in connection with antitrust aspects of mergers and acquisitions, investigations, counseling and litigation.

Organization: Skadden

Words of wisdom: "Preparation and self-awareness are going to be the name of the game under the new regime. The aperture is widening in terms of what the government's going to see early in the process. And that doesn't mean that it's a cause for concern. It means that you have to know what's in your files."

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