White & Case LLP - Lawyers - M. Elaine Johnston

Practice Experience

M. Elaine Johnston concentrates on antitrust law and has a broad practice covering merger-related work, antitrust litigation and antitrust counseling. She has extensive experience advising on the antitrust aspects of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures and is particularly experienced in coordinating U.S., European and other foreign antitrust clearances on complex cross border deals. Ms. Johnston has successfully defended mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures before the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the European Commission. She has handled deals in a wide range of industries, including engineering, energy, oil and gas, banking and financial services, insurance, telecommunications, defense electronics, cable, advertising, chemicals, paper, health care, leisure and retail sales. Ms. Johnston also has an active antitrust litigation practice and has been involved in a number of major cases in various industries including oil and gas, financial services, shipping, paper and vitamins.

Ms. Johnston's current and recent representations include:

Successfully defending Saudi Aramco in In Re: Refined Petroleum Products Antitrust Litigation, a consolidated antitrust class action which was dismissed on the basis of the act of state and political question doctrines;
Defending a leading seller of potash in a number of pending antitrust class actions;
Defending Experian, the national credit bureau, in a lawsuit brought by Fair Isaac Corporation against Experian, Equifax, Trans Union and VantageScore;
The reorganization of the global Visa payments network, formerly comprised of six regional entities, into a single global public company;
First American’s acquisition of CoreLogic;
Tyco's sale of its Radionics business to Integra;
Smiths' sale of its live scan business to Crossmatch;
First American's acquisition of the tax services and flood certification businesses of Transamerica;
Metso's tender offer for Svedala;
ABB's joint venture with Alstom in power generation;
Volvo's sale of its car business to Ford Motor Company;
ABB's tender offer for Elsag Bailey;
Raytheon's acquisition of the defense business of Texas Instruments and its merger with Hughes Aircraft.

Ms. Johnston also regularly advises companies on how to structure worldwide distribution and licensing arrangements (including patent pools) to avoid antitrust problems; counsels trade associations on the permissible scope of their activities under U.S. and EU antitrust rules; and advises companies facing investigations by government antitrust authorities both in the U.S. and in Europe. Ms. Johnston has advised a number of companies regarding their involvement in business-to-business (B2B) internet-based trading platforms in a number of different industries including financial products, insurance and electrical products. Ms. Johnston represented two major financial institutions in connection with a series of investigations by the Department of Justice into internet-based trading platforms, all of which were resolved without enforcement action. Prior to joining White & Case, Ms. Johnston practiced with a major English law firm, where she concentrated on EU and U.K. antitrust law.

Ms. Johnston has been recognized as a leading antitrust practitioner by many publications, including PLC Which Lawyer?, The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers and Chambers USA, and is a frequent speaker on antitrust issues.

Bars and Courts
New York State Bar
US District Court for the Southern District of New York
US District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Education
LLM, University of Michigan Law School, Fulbright Scholar, 1987
MA, Cambridge University, 1984
BA, Clare College Cambridge, Hons., 1980

Professional Associations and Memberships
American Bar Association (Member, Antitrust Section)
New York State Bar Association (Executive Committee, Antitrust Law Section)
Member of the Editorial Board of Competition Laws Outside the United States
Former Associate Editor of the Antitrust Law Journal
Former Member of Committee on Antitrust and Trade Regulation of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York

Publications
Co-author, "Antitrust Aspects of Settling Intellectual Property Litigation," Intellectual Property Antitrust 2006, published by the Practising Law Institute, 2006, republished in The Licensing Journal Volume 26 Number 8, September 2006 (with Matthew J. Galvin)
"Antitrust Liability for Acts and Omissions in Dealing with Government Entities," Intellectual Property Antitrust 2005, published by the Practising Law Institute, 2005
"Intellectual Property as an 'Essential Facility,'" Intellectual Property Antitrust 2004, published by the Practising Law Institute, 2004, republished in The Computer & Internet Lawyer, February 2005
Co author, "Contrast or Convergence? The IP Guidelines and the New EU Technology Transfer Block Exemption," Antitrust Magazine, Spring 1995 (with Ronald W. Davis)
"Dual Representation in Antitrust Investigations," Antitrust Law in New York State, published by the New York State Bar Association, 1995
Contributor, Bellamy & Child, Common Market Law of Competition, Fourth Edition (Sweet & Maxwell 1993); responsible for section on intellectual property licensing
Co author, "Antitrust Aspects of Reverse Engineering," Intellectual Property Antitrust 1993, published by the Practising Law Institute, 1993 (with David Bender)

Languages
English

Citizenship
United States