Gordon Schnell has been a partner of Constantine Cannon since 1999, specializing in antitrust litigation and counseling. He practices before all levels of federal court and regularly represents clients before the FTC and the DOJ. Mr. Schnell litigates and counsels clients on a vast range of antitrust issues including those related to price-fixing, monopolization, group boycotts, tying arrangements, exclusive dealing, joint ventures, competitor collaborations, government investigations and consent decrees, pre-merger coordination, and numerous other issues arising under the Sherman, Clayton, Hart-Scott-Rodino, and Robinson-Patman Acts.

Mr. Schnell graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 1991 as a Stone Scholar, and from Tufts University in 1986, summa cum laude, with a degree in electrical engineering and physics. He also attended the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand on a Rotary Foundation Fellowship. Mr. Schnell is a two-time recipient of the N. Hobbs Knight Prize Scholarship in Physics, and in both 2006 and 2007 was selected as one of New York's "Superlawyers" by Law and Politics (a Key Professional Media publication).

Mr. Schnell writes and speaks extensively on antitrust issues and was featured most recently in the Global Competition Review, European Competition Law Review, and New York Law Journal. He is routinely interviewed and quoted in major business, industry, and legal publications including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, USA Today, and Legal Times. Prior to joining Constantine Cannon, Mr. Schnell was associated with the law firm of Coudert Brothers.

Selected Recent Representations

• Dolan et al. v. Fidelity National Titles Ins. Co. Mr. Schnell is lead counsel representing consumers in this price-fixing challenge to the collective setting of New York title insurance rates by the country's four largest title insurance companies. Since the filing of this complaint, and its subsequent front page coverage in the Wall Street Journal, more than 60 "copycat" actions have been filed in various jurisdictions throughout the country.

• Funeral Consumers Alliance et al. v. Service Corp. Int'l. et al. Mr. Schnell is co-lead counsel representing this consumer rights group and individual consumers in a price-fixing/group boycott challenge against the three largest funeral home chains and largest casket maker in the U.S. This case is currently pending in U.S. federal court in Houston.

• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. et al. v. Visa U.S.A., Inc. and MasterCard Int'l Inc. Mr. Schnell was one of the lead counsel representing Wal-Mart, Sears, Circuit City, The Limited, Safeway, three major merchant trade associations and a class of 5 million U.S. merchants in this antitrust class action against Visa and MasterCard. Their landmark victory in this case of $3.05 billion (and injunctive relief valued by the court at tens of billions of dollars more) remains by far the largest antitrust recovery in U.S. history.

• Acquisition of Star Systems, Inc. by Concord EFS, Inc. Mr. Schnell represented Concord EFS in its industry landmark acquisition of Star Systems which was cleared and consummated after extensive investigation by the Department of Justice. Through this acquisition, Concord consolidated the STAR, MAC, and Cash Station electronic payment networks into the country's largest on-line debit network.

• Kesmai Corporation, et al. v. America Online, Inc. et al. Mr. Schnell represented The News Corporation subsidiary Kesmai Corporation in this antitrust and fraud action against the former America Online. This case settled on the eve of trial.

• United States v. Primestar, et al. Mr. Schnell represented The News Corporation in the Department of Justice's lawsuit to block the sale of certain direct broadcast satellite assets to a consortium of cable companies.

• FCPA Investigation Mr. Schnell led a team of lawyers and accountants in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation in Hungary and the Czech Republic on behalf of a U.S. based telecommunications company with extensive overseas operations.

Recent Publications

• Exporting U.S. Competition Law, Global Competition Review, April 2008, at pp. 35-36 (with Adam Nyhan).

• Resale Price Maintenance - What's all The Ruckus About?, Competition Law 360, February 6, 2008 (with Jean Kim).

• 'Twombly' Pleading Standard: Good Idea, Bad Execution, New York Law Journal, December 5, 2007.

• Class Action Madness in Europe -- a Call for a More Balanced Debate, European Competition Law Review, November 2007, at 617-19.

• Pfizer's Cholesterol Gambit: Dodging the Antitrust Laws?, New York Law Journal, October 12, 2005, at 4 & 6.

• Exclusive Dealing, National Law Journal, September 5, 2005, at 16.

• Patents and the Presumption of Market Power: the Latest Twist in Tying Law, Andrews Antitrust Litigation Reporter, July 2005, at 15. Also published in Andrews Patent Litigation Reporter, July 2005, at 11; Andrews Software Law Bulletin, August 2005, at 8; and Andrews Computer and Internet Litigation Reporter, July 26, 2005, at 9.

• Exclusivity: The Right and Wrong Way, Chain Store Age Magazine, June 2005, at 102.

• Repairing the Failed Debit Card Market: Lessons from an Historically Interventionist Federal Reserve and the Recent Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation, 2 N.Y.U. J. of L. & Bus. 147 (2005) (with Lloyd Constantine, Reiko Cyr and Michelle A. Peters).

• Will Your Merger Pass Regulatory Muster, The Corporate Board, July/August 2004, at 18-22.

• The Great Canadian Debit Debate, Credit Card Management, May 2004, at 12.

• Muzzling Telemarketers, National Law Journal, December 8, 2003, at 35.

• An Antitrust Challenge to the National Resident Matching Program, New York Law Journal, August 2, 2002, at 4.

• "Cooperation Agreements" with Departing Employees: An Easy Way To Avoid a Whole Lot of Trouble, Altman Weil In-House Practice & Management, July 2002, at 8-10.

• Iffy Prognosis For Intern Suit, National Law Journal, June 24, 2002, at A12.

• 4(c) or Not 4(c): That Is the HSR Question, New York Law Journal, March 28, 2002, at 5.

• Cooperation Agreements, Legal Times, March 18, 2002, at 32.

• 4(c) Disclosure: Don't hold anything back, National Law Journal, February 4, 2002, at A24.

• The "Pull and Trigger:" A Simple Way to Side-Step The Dreaded HSR Second Request, Andrew's Antitrust Litigation Reporter, December 2001, at 11.

• Antitrust Walk-Away Provisions, National Law Journal, December 10, 2001, at A19.

• The Do's and Don'ts of Premerger Coordination Between Buyers and Sellers, Altman Weil In-House Practice & Management, November 2001, at 10-11.

• E-Payment Network Directors Risk Antitrust Scrutiny, American Banker, September 7, 2001, at 6.

Selected Recent Speeches/Presentations

• Critique and Criticisms of the European Commission's White Paper on Damages Actions for Breach of the EC Antitrust Rules, Presentation at The Lawyer Conferences, London, England, May 7, 2008.

• The Case for and Against Antitrust Class Actions, Presentation at IBC Advanced EC Competition Law Conference, London, England, April 24, 2007.

• The Extraterritorial Limits of United States Competition Law, Presentation at International Law Association's Biennial Conference, Toronto, Canada, June 5, 2006.

• Debit in the United States -- Where It's Going and From Where It Came, Presentation at IC Card World 2005, Tokyo, Japan, March 3, 2005.