Latham & Watkins Nabs Former Kirkland & Ellis Antitrust Head

Latham & Watkins said Monday that it has added former Kirkland & Ellis attorney, Katherine Rocco, as a partner in its global antitrust & competition practice in New York.

Rocco, a five-year Kirkland partner, will also be a member of Latham’s litigation and trial department. She moves to Latham amid what she calls an “exciting atmosphere in the antitrust world.”

Many large law antitrust attorneys have hopped to new firms in recent months. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Joshua Soven joinedPaul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in February.

In March, Charles Rule, co-chair of Paul Weiss’ antitrust group, also based in Washington, D.C., left to open a new antitrust firm.

Last month, Silicon Valley-founded Cooley added the former head of Linklaters’ global competition practice in Brussels, and the chair of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan antitrust investigations and government enforcement practice in Washington, DC.
Rocco said the shift to the Biden administration has contributed to an uptick in activity in the antitrust sector.

She has done work on government investigations and antitrust litigation, and said she expects that her practice at Latham will be focused on antitrust deals and “getting mergers through DOJ and FTC review.”

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