Ms Christa Cottrell > Kirkland & Ellis LLP > Chicago, United States > Lawyer Profile

Kirkland & Ellis LLP has an active cartel practice that frequently sees the team representing clients from a broad range of industries on the full range of cartel issues, with price-fixing, monopolization, generic drugs, and proteins being key areas of expertise. The team is experienced in both government cartel investigations and related litigation, both in the US and abroad. James Mutchnik, Daniel Laytin, and Christa Cottrell are key members of the firm’s antitrust cartel practice. Mutchnik, an experienced litigator based in Chicago, represents corporate and individual clients in antitrust defense matters before federal and state courts and investigative agencies. Laytin and Cottrell, also in Chicago, specialize in civil and criminal cartel litigation and in complex commercial litigation, respectively. The firm’s significant governmental agency experience, exemplified by former Antitrust Division Head of Media, Entertainment and Communications Scott Scheele, was further expanded in 2022, when Elyse Dorsey, former Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division, and Molly Kelley, also formerly at the DOJ, joined the firm. Scheele and Dorsey are based in Washington DC, while Kelley is in Chicago.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP regularly defends pharmaceutical companies in antitrust and competition disputes involving a full spectrum of antitrust claims including pay-for-delay actions, pricing disputes, monopolization, and intellectual property. The team has experience in government-initiated investigations and private antitrust matters against the DOJ, the FTC, state attorney generals, competitors as well as purchaser and consumer classes. Chicago-based Daniel Laytin handles commercial, antitrust and class action litigation with recent matters raising questions of wage fixing and monopolization. Also situated in Chicago, James Mutchnik focuses on disputes surrounding domestic and international cartels and price discrimination claims while Christa Cottrell is involved in complex commercial litigation involving large companies including Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and AbbVie. Olivia Adendorff in Washington DC and Dallas is well-versed in complex commercial class actions. The firm has expanded the team with several hires from the DOJ including Scott Scheele and Elyse Dorsey in Washington DC and Molly Kelley in the firm’s Chicago office. Katherine Rocco departed from the firm in April 2022 and Sean Royall left in February 2022.