Akin Gump announced that Haidee L. Schwartz, former Acting Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), will join the firm as a partner in its nationally ranked antitrust/competition practice in Washington, D.C.
Since July 2017, Ms. Schwartz has overseen the enforcement of the U.S. antitrust laws and managed investigations across multiple merger divisions in the FTC’s Bureau of Competition as well as the FTC’s Health Care division and Northeast Regional Office. She has directed investigation and litigation teams focused on transactions in various industries, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, chemicals, energy, technology, health care, consumer goods and retail. Her unique experience of having worked with all of the current FTC commissioners gives her important insight into how the commissioners consider and evaluate matters before them.
Prior to her legal career, Ms. Schwartz worked with an international public affairs firm, where she directed public policy and communications strategies for clients whose mergers and acquisitions were the targets of congressional and regulatory scrutiny.
At Akin Gump, she will focus her practice on all aspects of merger review, federal and state nonmerger investigations, and antitrust counseling to clients across a breadth of industries.
About Haidee Schwartz
Ms. Schwartz began her legal career at another large international law firm, where she represented clients subject to FTC and Department of Justice (DOJ) merger and conduct investigations as well as DOJ criminal investigations. She also represented defendants in FTC and DOJ litigated merger cases, agency conduct investigations and civil litigations; conducted complex antitrust analyses; and provided counseling and policy guidance to clients.
Ms. Schwartz previously worked at the global public affairs firm Powell Tate/Weber Shandwick, directing public policy and communications strategies for corporate clients. Her work involved developing communication strategies to guide mergers and acquisitions through congressional scrutiny and regulatory reviews involving the DOJ, the FTC, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Transportation.