Cooley Godward has added Howard Morse as a partner in its Washington D.C. antitrust practice and elected antitrust special counsel Francis Fryscak to the partnership in its Palo Alto office.
Morse is a former assistant director of the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission and most recently served as co-chair of the antitrust practice at Drinker Biddle. He regularly represents businesses before the FTC, the Department of Justice and State Attorneys General in investigations involving mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures as well as alleged monopolization and restraint of trade cases.
During his 10-year career at the FTC, Morse was responsible for more than 50 enforcement actions, the firm said in a press release.
Fryscak counsels companies on antitrust matters arising out of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, as well as on distribution arrangements, price discrimination and corporate antitrust compliance. He has worked closely with clients in numerous high-profile antitrust investigations brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and foreign antitrust regulatory agencies.
“The addition of Howard and Francis to the partnership reflects the importance of and our absolute commitment to this critical area of practice for our clients,” said Joe Conroy, Cooley’s chief executive officer. “Cooley has a long history of successfully advising clients on antitrust matters, including transaction-related counseling and bet-the-company litigation. Given their respective backgrounds and experiences, I am confident that Howard and Francis will only strengthen our legacy of client service and success in the antitrust area.”
Cooley Godward, which was ranked by Bloomberg and Mergemarket as one of the top ten law firms in the U.S. for completed M&A transactions, has 650 attorneys with offices in Palo Alto, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Reston, Va.,Broomfield, Co., Washington D.C., Boston and Seattle.