Jonathan Klarfeld > Ropes & Gray LLP > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile
Ropes & Gray LLP Offices
2099 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW
WASHINGTON, DC 20006-6807
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
United States
- Firm Profile
- Go to...
Jonathan Klarfeld
Career
Jonathan S. Klarfeld is a veteran antitrust enforcer and practitioner who led many significant merger investigations and challenges during his 13 years at the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition in Washington, D.C. Jonathan brings to Ropes & Gray clients a broad range of experience and knowledge about how antitrust reviews of transactions proceed, how consents are reached and how matters are litigated. Since joining Ropes & Gray in the summer of 2014, he has represented and counseled clients across a broad range of antitrust issues and government investigations.
A staff attorney with the FTC from 2000 to 2008, Jonathan was named counsel to the director in 2008, where he oversaw several merger and non-merger divisions within the FTC. In 2009, Jonathan was appointed a Deputy Assistant Director in the Mergers I Division. In that role, he managed all aspects of the antitrust enforcement division in case selection, oversight and enforcement recommendation development. He also oversaw and participated in investigational hearings and depositions, negotiated consent agreements and litigated matters across a wide range of industries. Jonathan has supervised and led milestone antitrust cases, including toward the end of his agency tenure, the commission’s enforcement actions in Omnicare/PharMerica and Nielsen/Arbitron and its investigation of Express Scripts/Medco.
During his time at the FTC, Jonathan was detailed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia where he served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, trying several cases and participating in all aspects of criminal prosecutions, including arraignments, plea negotiations, trials and oral arguments, witness preparations and sentencings.
Jonathan began his legal career in private practice as a litigation associate at Reboul, MacMurray, Hewitt, Maynard & Kristol.
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Antitrust > Merger control
Ropes & Gray LLP offers broad expertise across DOJ and FTC merger processes, advising a broad range of corporate and private equity clients on HSR filings through to investigations and regulatory actions, as well as coordinating global merger approvals in concert with its international offices. The firm is particularly strong in the life sciences space, advising strategic purchasers and investors on contested transactions facing significant regulatory scrutiny, such as Medtronic’s $1.1bn acquisition of Intersect ENT, which succeeded following a FTC Second Request in a notable victory for the highly experienced Michael McFalls and former FTC Mergers I head Jonathan Klarfeld . Additionally, the firm is active in handling merger filings and strategy for private equity clients such as Bain Capital, with the prolific Deirdre Johnson in Boston specializing in HSR work. Mark Popofsky oversees the team, which also includes Samer Musallam, who focuses on merger-related investigations in a range of regulated sectors, including medical devices, telecoms, and semiconductors. Jacqueline Grise joined the firm in April 2024 from Cooley LLP. All attorneys are in Washington DC unless otherwise stated.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Investment fund formation and management > Alternative/hedge funds
- Dispute resolution > E-discovery
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- Healthcare > Service providers
Firm Rankings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- Tax > Not-for-profit (nonprofit and tax exempt organizations)
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Shareholder activism
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Antitrust > Cartel
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Government > State attorneys general
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Finance > Fintech
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
- Finance > Financial services regulation
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- International Trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions