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 chemicals, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, oil and gas, engineering, banking and financial services, agricultural products, 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 2021.
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, and a public petroleum and natural gas company. In addition, she regularly advises companies on business conduct, including worldwide distribution and licensing arrangements, patent pools, information exchanges and benchmarking.
Elaine was ranked Band 3 in Chambers USA 2023 and has been ranked for 21 years.
Elaine is a member of the American Bar Association (Antitrust section) and the New York State Bar Association (Chair, 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
Registered Foreign Lawyer, England and Wales, 2024
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
Related articles
News: 28 February 2024
Antitrust authorities continue intense scrutiny in M&A markets
Antitrust authorities continued to have a big impact on M&A in 2023, frustrating more deals and intensifying scrutiny of digital and private equity transactions, reveals A&O’s latest Global Trends in…
Publications: 28 February 2024
Publications: 28 February 2024
Antitrust authorities remain unwilling to accept merger remedies
Expertise
Practices
Sectors
Qualifications
Professional
Registered Foreign Lawyer, England and Wales, 2024
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
Other noteworthy experience
Advising
- Represent international pipeline services company in its non-judicial restructuring of approximately $150 million in secured debt, including through an equity investment and a new secured credit facility.
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.
Awards & accolades
Ranked Band 3
Chambers USA 2022: Antitrust
Recognition
Elaine is always part of the solution for our business - she helps us achieve our goals while managing risk from a legal perspective.
WHO’S WHO LEGAL COMPETITION 2021
She's experienced and client-focused, she's is an outstanding partner.
Chambers USA 2022, Antitrust: New York
She's great, she's fantastic on the transactional side.
Chambers USA 2022, Antitrust: New York
She is a brilliant lawyer with a wonderful commercial sense.
WHO’S WHO LEGAL COMPETITION 2021
