AT&T Inc, Deutsche Telekom AG and T-Mobile USA have amassed an army of former senior government antitrust officials to try to save their $39 billion deal to combine wireless businesses. Questions abound for all sides: How strong is existing antitrust law? Can competition survive with the combination of two big wireless carriers? Or if the Justice Department succeeds in blocking it, will AT&T have to pay $6 billion in cash and wireless airwaves as a break-up fee to T-Mobile?
"Under the circumstances, I think they need the very best team they can put together," said Bert Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute. "It seems to me they have an uphill battle, and they need people who are capable of negotiating, but also capable of going to the mat if there is a trial."
Several of the lawyers who make up the legal dream team for the wireless companies previously worked in top roles at either the US Justice Department's antitrust division or the Federal Trade Commission's competition bureau. Among those hired are long-time antitrust negotiators who have worked on scores of acquisitions, as well as tough litigators such as Richard Parker. At least one lawyer, Richard Rosen, has been before Judge Ellen Huvelle, who is overseeing this case.
Last month the Justice Department sued to block the acquisition of Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA unit, the No 4 US wireless carrier, by AT&T, which ranks second in that market. The companies hope to settle so the deal can close. The companies can afford to hire the best of the best for the case, said Howard University School of Law professor Andrew Gavil, a long-time antitrust expert.