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John Carroll

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John D. Carroll is a partner in the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group in the firm's Washington, D.C. office.

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The number of U.S. states implementing or considering new antitrust laws (or supplementing existing laws) targeting proposed transactions continues to grow. As detailed in our healthcare merger matrix, many states have focused their attention on the healthcare industry, and that continues to be the case, for example, in New York, where a broad range of proposed transactions involving health care entities could be subject to filing requirements and suspensory rules before they can close.Continue Reading State Antitrust Enforcement Roundup: New Laws; New Potential Legislation; and New (and Broader) Areas of Focus

State legislatures on the West Coast are intensifying their focus on private equity and management service organizations (MSOs) in healthcare, introducing new regulatory measures that could significantly reshape investment strategies, ownership structures, and operational matters in the healthcare space in these states. As state legislatures respond to growing concerns about the role of non-licensed entities in healthcare decision-making, recent proposals reflect a heightened focus on transaction scrutiny, ownership structures, and the autonomy of licensed providers.Continue Reading Major Regulatory Updates from the West Coast: New California and Washington Approaches to Healthcare Private Equity and MSO Regulation

President Trump was sworn into office on Monday, promising swift action on several fronts. There is already a new Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Chair, Andrew Ferguson, with former FTC Chair Lina Khan expected to step down shortly. At the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (“DOJ”), proposed AAG Gail Slater will need to be confirmed by the Senate before she can take the helm.Continue Reading Looking Back and Looking Forward: Healthcare Antitrust in a New Administration: What Stays the Same and What Changes?

What antitrust enforcement will look like during a second Trump administration is, like antitrust law, complicated. Notions that Republicans are pro-business and therefore will take a laissez-faire approach to antitrust enforcement are outdated and simplistic. During Trump’s first term, antitrust enforcement was far from moribund, blending traditional Republican preferences for deregulation with a populist skepticism toward Big Tech and market concentration generally. This anomalistic meeting of progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans in the antitrust space even garnered a mash-up moniker – the “Khanservaties” – a group of conservative Republicans including Missouri Senator Josh Hawley and erstwhile Attorney General nominee and former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, who praised Biden-appointed Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance also provided backhanded praise for Khan, stating, “I look at Lina Khan as one of the few people in the Biden administration that I think is doing a pretty good job.” Continue Reading Antitrust During Trump 2.0: It’s Complicated

Leading up to the U.S. presidential election this November, our Antitrust & Competition team continues to offer insights into what antitrust enforcement may look like under the next presidential administration. In our last post, we analyzed antitrust enforcement under the Biden administration, which highlighted the results of Biden Administration’s aggressive antitrust policies. Under another potential Trump administration, enforcement priorities and agency leadership would be tough to predict. As our guideposts, we will analyze antitrust enforcement under Trump’s first term, 2024 campaign rhetoric, and antitrust priorities laid out in Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project (“Project 2025”), with the understanding that former President Trump has disavowed Project 2025.Continue Reading The Sequel?: Predicting Antitrust Enforcement in a New Trump Administration

Leading up to the U.S. presidential election this November, our Antitrust & Competition team continues to offer insights into what antitrust enforcement may look like under the next presidential administration. As we look forward to the next four years, we should also look back on antitrust enforcement under previous recent administrations. Much has been made of the more aggressive and public stance on antitrust enforcement under the Biden administration. The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (the “DOJ”) (together the “Agencies”) have put forth several significant policy changes and proposed rules, including new merger guidelines and a proposed ban on noncompetes. All that said, at least some of the data may indicate a less radical change in antitrust enforcement under Biden as compared to Trump than the conventional wisdom suggests.Continue Reading Antitrust Under Biden: Taking a Closer Look at the Numbers

Leading up to the U.S. presidential election this November, our Antitrust & Competition team will offer thoughts and insights into what antitrust enforcement will look like under the next presidential administration. While there is at least some uncertainty regarding antitrust enforcement under either a Harris or Trump administration, there is no doubt that the current Biden administration has been extraordinarily active.Continue Reading Election 2024 Coverage: Examining the Future of Healthcare and Antitrust

Yesterday, August 28th, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (the “DOJ”) (the “Antitrust Agencies”), together with the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) and National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB”), signed a new agreement (the Memorandum of Understanding or “MOU”) that seeks to enhance the ability of the FTC and DOJ to investigate the impact of mergers and acquisitions on labor markets.Continue Reading U.S. Federal Antitrust Agencies Announce Cooperation Initiative with Labor Agencies in Merger Review