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    Home /  Lawyers /  Renata B. Hesse

    Renata B. Hesse

    Partner

    Renata B. Hesse Headshot Photo Portrait backdrop

    Washington, D.C.

    +1-202-956-7500

    Palo Alto

    +1-650-461-5600

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    hesser@sullcrom.com

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    Renata Hesse is co-head of the Firm’s Antitrust Group. Her practice focuses on antitrust counseling, cartels and merger clearance. Ms. Hesse is frequently recognized as a leading and influential antitrust lawyer, with a particular emphasis on the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property matters in high-tech industries. In addition to her work on civil antitrust matters, Ms. Hesse also has an active practice involving criminal antitrust investigations, including advising clients on no-poach agreements and other wage-fixing and labor market investigations. She is the Publications Officer of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section and is a frequent speaker at antitrust and legal forums.

    Ms. Hesse joined Sullivan & Cromwell following a distinguished career in government, including leading the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice twice as Acting Assistant Attorney General and serving that division for more than 15 years. During her time at the Division, Ms. Hesse worked on a number of high profile transactions, as well as other key initiatives related to the licensing and enforcement of standards-essential patents. While serving as Acting Assistant Attorney General, Ms. Hesse, in collaboration with the FTC, was responsible for the issuance of the DOJ’s and FTC’s landmark “Antitrust Guidance For Human Resource Professionals”, which lays the groundwork for criminal prosecution of antitrust violations stemming from wage-fixing or no-poaching agreements. She also had oversight of the criminal program as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, where she was a decision-maker on a range of significant criminal matters. Ms. Hesse was previously Chief of the Networks and Technology Section (now the Technology and Financial Services Section) and a Trial Attorney in two Division sections, and has worked extensively with antitrust and competition law enforcement agencies at the highest levels across Asia, Europe, Australia and Latin America.

    Ms. Hesse also served as Senior Counsel to the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, where she advised Chairman Genachowski on transactions pending FCC approval. She co-authored the United States chapter of “The Intellectual Property and Antitrust Review” in 2017-2020.

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    Spotlight

    Renata Hesse Speaks at Stanford Law School Antitrust Event

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    Renata Hesse recognized as a “Litigation Star” by Benchmark.

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    Tech in Focus: Insights on Pressing Issues for Technology Companies

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    S&C Critical Insights – Impact of Illumina/GRAIL on M&A Deals Going Forward 

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    S&C’s Latin America Litigation & Arbitration Practice

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    • Experience
    • Rankings and Recognitions
    • News
    • Publications, Videos and Podcasts
    • Credentials
    • Related Practices
    Experience

    Experience

    Ms. Hesse counsels some of the world’s biggest companies on a range of high-stakes antitrust matters. Most recently, she advised:

    • Amazon on its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market;
    • Amgen Inc. in its $1.9 billion acquisition of Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc.;
    • Amgen in its $13.4 billion acquisition of Otezla from Celgene;
    • Baxter International Inc. on its $10.5 billion acquisition of Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.;

    • Canadian Pacific Railways Limited (CP) in its $31 billion deal to acquire Kansas City Southern, defeating a competing bid by Canadian National. Renata was part of the S&C team that successfully persuaded the Surface Transportation Board—an agency that oversees competition in the freight rail industry—to allow CP to use a voting trust, a key component of CP’s successful bid;
    • Fiserv, Inc. in its $22 billion acquisition of First Data Corporation;
    • Guardant Health in connection with Illumina’s $8 billion acquisition of GRAIL;
    • Integra LifeSciences in its acquisition of ACell for up to $400 million;
    • Merck KGaA on its $6.5 billion acquisition of Versum Materials;
    • Novartis in its $9.7 billion acquisition of The Medicines Company;
    • Parkland Corporation in its acquisition of Conrad & Bischoff and its related companies;
    • Praxair, Inc. in its $80 billion merger of equals with Linde AG;
    • Royal Philips in its acquisitions of BioTelemetry and of the Healthcare Information Systems business of Carestream Health;
    • Tenaris S.A. in its $1.2 billion acquisition of IPSCO Tubulars, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of PAO TMK, a Russian company;
    • Tiffany & Co. in its acquisition by LVMH Moet Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE for approximately $16 billion;
    • Uber Freight in its $2.25 billion acquisition of Transplace;
    • Multiple clients on the implications of potential “no-poach” agreements, including providing assessments of and advice on conduct that could implicate the antitrust laws;
    • A large industrial company based in Latin America on confidential criminal antitrust matters; and
    • Volkswagen in a Department of Justice investigation into four automakers that had sided with California in its dispute with the federal government over reducing climate-warming vehicle pollution. In February 2020, the DOJ dropped its investigation, finding that the companies had violated no laws.

    Speaking Engagements

    • “The Role of Competition Policy in Mediating the Crisis,” University of Colorado Silicon Flatirons’ Internet’s Midlife Crisis Conference (February 2023)
    • “The Role of Antitrust Policies in SEP Licensing Disputes,” RPX Spring Conference (May 2022)
    • “IP and Antitrust: How Do They Work Together Today?” Fordham Law School Intellectual Property Law and Policy Conference (April 2022)
    • “Tackling Antitrust: How to Operate in an Evolving Regulatory Environment,” TechGC M&A Conference 2022 (March 2022)
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    Rankings and Recognitions

    Rankings and Recognitions

    • Chambers USA – Recognized as a leader in Antitrust - District of Columbia since 2019, including as Band 1 (2023); and recognized for Antitrust - Nationwide (2021-2022)
    • Named to the last three editions of Global Competition Review’s Women in Antitrust (2013, 2016, 2021)
    • Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation – Top 250 Women in Litigation (2018-2022); Local Litigation Star (2020-2023)
    • Named to Euromoney’s 2022 Best of the Best USA Expert Guide as one of the top 32 competition and antitrust practitioners in the USA 

    • The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers (2020-2022)
    • Who’s Who Legal: Global Elite Thought Leaders in Competition (2022-2023)
    • Who’s Who Legal: Competition (2023) and USA Competition (2023)
    • Best Lawyers – Recognized for Antitrust Law (2019-2023)
    • Concurrences Review – Best Antitrust Business Article: Intellectual Property Category (2020)
    • Profiles in Diversity Journal – Women Worth Watching (2020)
    • Euromoney’s Americas Women in Business Law Awards – Best in Antitrust/Competition (2018-2019)
    • Super Lawyers – Recognized for Antitrust Litigation (2010-2011, 2019-2021)
    • The National Law Journal – Antitrust Trailblazer (2018)
    • The Legal 500 United States – Recognized for Antitrust: Merger Control (2018)
    • Lead partner on the Amazon/Whole Foods deal, which was recognized as the “2018 Merger control matter of the year – Americas” by Global Competition Review
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    News

    News

    • S&C Guides Canadian Pacific to Surface Transportation Board Approval of Kansas City Southern Acquisition

      May 8, 2023
    • S&C Advises Seagen in $43 Billion Acquisition by Pfizer

      March 15, 2023
    • Renata Hesse Speaks at Stanford Law School Antitrust Event

      December 22, 2022
    • S&C Advises Amgen in $28.3 Billion Acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics

      December 12, 2022
    • S&C Advises Abiomed in $18 Billion Merger Agreement with Johnson & Johnson

      November 1, 2022
    • S&C Advises BHP in $28 Billion Deal Transferring Oil and Gas Portfolio to Woodside

      June 14, 2022
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    Publications, Videos and Podcasts

    Publications, Videos and Podcasts

    • Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act: Illegal Interlocking Directorates

      Emerging Issues October 28, 2022
    • Impact of Illumina/GRAIL on M&A Deals Going Forward 

      Podcasts September 16, 2022
    • Supreme Court Business Review: NCAA v. Alston

      Podcasts August 19, 2021
    • A Look at the Current U.S. Antitrust Landscape

      Webinars August 5, 2021
    • Updates From the Antitrust Agencies and Implications for Enforcement

      Podcasts July 9, 2021
    • Garrard Beeney and Renata Hesse Author Chapter in The Intellectual Property and Antitrust Review

      Articles August 27, 2020
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    Credentials

    Credentials

    Education

    • UC Berkeley School of Law, J.D., 1990
    • Wellesley College, B.A., 1986

    Bar Admissions

    • District of Columbia
    • California
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    Related Practices

    Related Practices

    • Litigation
    • Antitrust
    • Intellectual Property & Technology Litigation
    • Intellectual Property & Technology Transactions
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Technology, Media & Telecommunications
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