US: FTC official leaves Competition Bureau for Akin Gump

Akin Gump announced that Haidee L. Schwartz, former Acting Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), will join Akin Gump as a partner in its nationally ranked antitrust/competition practice in Washington, DC.

Since July 2017, Ms. Schwartz has overseen the enforcement of the U.S. antitrust laws and managed investigations across multiple merger divisions in the FTC’s Bureau of Competition as well as the FTC’s Health Care division and Northeast Regional Office. She has directed investigation and litigation teams focused on transactions in various industries, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, chemicals, energy, technology, health care, consumer goods and retail. Her unique experience of having worked with all of the current FTC commissioners gives her important insight into how the commissioners consider and evaluate matters before them.

Prior to her legal career, Ms. Schwartz worked with an international public affairs firm, where she directed public policy and communications strategies for clients whose mergers and acquisitions were the targets of congressional and regulatory scrutiny.

At Akin Gump, she will focus her practice on all aspects of merger review, federal and state nonmerger investigations, and antitrust counseling to clients across a breadth of industries.