Bio

A partner and co-chair of the Antitrust Group, Charles (Rick) Rule focuses his practice on providing U.S. and international antitrust advice to major corporations in connection with “bet-the-company” matters, particularly high-profile mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Formerly head of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Rick currently represents corporate clients in connection with civil and grand jury investigations by the DOJ, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the European Commission and in private and governmental litigation both at the trial and appellate levels. Rick has played a lead role in the antitrust clearance of some of the highest-profile mergers over the past quarter century. Among others, he has advised Cigna in its $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts and its proposed $54 billion merger with Anthem; Microsoft Corporation in its $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn and its $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype; Eli Lilly in its $5.4 billion acquisition of Novartis Animal Health; US Airways in its $11 billion merger with American Airlines and in its previous $1.5 billion merger with America West; Monsanto in its $68 billion merger with Bayer; Anheuser-Busch InBev in its $20 billion acquisition of Modelo; Pfizer in its $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth; MGM Mirage in its $7.9 billion acquisition of Mandalay Resort Group; WorldCom in its attempted $129 billion merger with Sprint; and Exxon in its $73 billion merger with Mobil. Rick has also handled major civil and criminal litigations on behalf of clients such as Microsoft, Cigna, The Pasha Group, Kentucky Speedway, Dexia, Morgan Stanley, Fair Isaac Corporation and Nippon Chemi-Con. Additional recent clients include Sirius XM, Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Nucor Corporation, Celanese Corporation and Bacardi Limited.