Say you are the in-house lawyer at a big company — call it Grand Motors — and you are responsible for making sure Hart-Scott-Rodino filings are made. With some variations, this hypothetical also works if you are in-house at, say, Wolverine Investments, a private equity firm. One day, one of your corporate colleagues stops by to inform you a big deal is about to be signed. She asks how quickly you can get the HSR in.
To make the hypo a little easier, imagine she at least informed you about the deal a few weeks ago and, at that time, you convinced yourself that a filing was necessary but there were no substantive antitrust issues. Maybe that is why she did not feel a need to keep you up to date on the deal’s progress. Even so, if you have taken the steps below, you can answer your colleague’s question with a timeframe that should make her, and your CEO, happy.
