Elaine Johnston
Partner Co-Head Antitrust
New York
Elaine Johnston
Partner Co-Head Antitrust
New York
Contact Details
Elaine is the head of Allen & Overy LLP's U.S. antitrust practice and co-head of the global antitrust practice. She has handled matters in a wide range of industries, including technology, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, banking and financial services, engineering, energy, oil and gas, other natural resources, chemicals, paper, leisure and retail sales, agricultural products, shipping, and vitamins. She has been featured in Chambers USA, BTI Client Service All-Stars, PLC Which Lawyer?, The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers, Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Competition and Antitrust Lawyers, and Global Competition Review's Women in Antitrust 2016.
Elaine has an active practice before the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) representing merging parties in connection with mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as companies in non-merger investigations, and she is particularly experienced in coordinating U.S., European, and other foreign antitrust clearances on complex cross-border deals. Elaine also has an active antitrust litigation practice including representing the Belarusian Potash Company, Experian, Mercuria, Saudi Aramco and United Airlines in pending or recent cases. In addition, she regularly advises companies on business conduct, including worldwide distribution and licensing arrangements, patent pools, information exchanges and benchmarking.
Prior to joining Allen & Overy, Elaine was a partner in the New York office of a major New York-based international law firm, where she was executive partner for Diversity, and was a founding member of that firm’s Women’s Network Committee.
Elaine is a member of the American Bar Association (Antitrust section) and the New York State Bar Association (Finance Officer, Antitrust Law section). She is also a former member of the editorial board of the ABA’s Competition Laws Outside the United States, a former associate editor of the Antitrust Law Journal, and a former member of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. She is a frequent speaker at antitrust conferences and seminars.
Expertise
Practices
Sectors
Qualifications
Professional
Admitted: Bar of the State of New York, 1988
Admitted: United States District Courts
Southern District of New York, 1995
Eastern District of New York, 1995
Admitted: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2009
Academic
LL.M., University of Michigan Law School, Fulbright Scholar, 1987
M.A., Cambridge University, 1984
B.A. honors, Clare College Cambridge, 1980
News & insights
Publications: 31 JANUARY 2020
FTC announces increased HSR thresholds – size-of-transaction threshold to be USD94.0 million
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced increases to the notification thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act, which requires pre-merger notification of certain transactions to the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Publications: 03 JANUARY 2020
Access to sexual and reproductive health rights in conflict zones
New York partner Elaine Johnston has led a substantial piece of research for the Center for Reproductive Rights – an organisation that uses the law to advance these fundamental human rights around the world.
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Publications: 16 JULY 2019
Beyond Leniency: DOJ Antitrust Announces New Approach For Crediting Corporate Compliance Programs
Recent announcements from senior Antitrust Division officials have brought about sweeping policy changes that are likely to displace the corporate leniency program as the only potential benefit of prompt self-reporting and an effective compliance program.1 While details continue to emerge, the Antitrust Division appears to be readjusting its policy focus from one based on leniency alone to one that more fully incentivizes compliance, in line with the Department of Justice more broadly. This policy shift culminated on July 11, 2019 with a major speech by the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust – titled Wind of Change: A New Model for Incentivizing Antitrust Compliance Programs – which solidified the Antitrust Division’s evolving position away from the “all-or-nothing” philosophy adopted by the long-standing corporate leniency program.
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Publications: 31 MAY 2019
This newsletter is our take on the antitrust developments we think are most interesting to your business. Elaine Johnston, partner and Global Co-Head of A&O’s Antitrust Group, based in New York, is our editor this month. She has selected:
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Expertise
Practices
Sectors
Qualifications
Professional
Admitted: Bar of the State of New York, 1988
Admitted: United States District Courts
Southern District of New York, 1995
Eastern District of New York, 1995
Admitted: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2009
Academic
LL.M., University of Michigan Law School, Fulbright Scholar, 1987
M.A., Cambridge University, 1984
B.A. honors, Clare College Cambridge, 1980
Published work
- Co-author, 'Antitrust Aspects of Settling Intellectual Property Litigation,' Intellectual Property Antitrust 2006, published by the Practising Law Institute, 2006, republished in The Licensing Journal Volume 26 Number 8, September 2006, with Matthew J. Galvin.
- 'Antitrust Liability for Acts and Omissions in Dealing with Government Entities,' Intellectual Property Antitrust 2005, published by the Practising Law Institute, 2005.
- 'Intellectual Property as an 'Essential Facility,'' Intellectual Property Antitrust 2004, published by the Practising Law Institute, 2004, republished in The Computer & Internet Lawyer, February 2005.
- Co-author, 'Contrast or Convergence? The IP Guidelines and the New EU Technology Transfer Block Exemption,' Antitrust Magazine, Spring 1995, with Ronald W. Davis.
- 'Dual Representation in Antitrust Investigations,' Antitrust Law in New York State, published by the New York State Bar Association, 1995.
- Contributor, Bellamy & Child, Common Market Law of Competition, Fourth Edition (Sweet & Maxwell 1993); responsible for section on intellectual property licensing.
- Co-author, 'Antitrust Aspects of Reverse Engineering,' Intellectual Property Antitrust 1993, published by the Practising Law Institute, 1993, with David Bender.
