Lawyers

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. She currently is the International Officer of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section and is a frequent speaker at antitrust and legal forums.
 
Ms. Hesse counsels some of the world’s biggest companies on a range of high-stakes antitrust matters. Most recently, she advised:

• Merck KGaA on its $6.5 billion acquisition of Versum Materials;
• Amgen on its $167 million acquisition of Nuevolution;
• Fiserv, Inc. in its $22 billion acquisition of First Data Corporation;
• Praxair, Inc. in its $80 billion merger of equals with Linde AG;
• United Rentals Inc., the world’s largest equipment rental company, on antitrust matters in its $1.3 billion acquisition of Neff Corp.; and
• Amazon on its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market.

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. 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. In 2018, she co-authored the United States chapter of the Third Edition of “The Intellectual Property and Antitrust Review.”
 
Rankings and Recognitions

• Chambers USA – Recognized for Antitrust - District of Columbia (2019)
• The National Law Journal – Antitrust Trailblazer (2018)
• Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation – Top 250 Women in Litigation (2018-2019); Local Litigation Star (2020)
• Euromoney’s Americas Women in Business Law Awards – Best in Antitrust/Competition (2018-2019)
• The Legal 500 United States – Recognized for Antitrust: Merger Control (2018)
• Super Lawyers – Recognized for Antitrust Litigation (2019)
• Best Lawyers – Recognized for Antitrust Law (2019)
• 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