Antitrust Transactional Partner Kara Kuritz Joins Vinson & Elkins in Washington, D.C.

Kuritz focuses on assessing antitrust issues in mergers and acquisitions, advising clients on how to navigate antitrust risk, and working to ensure clients comply with U.S. and global merger notification requirements. She advocates on behalf of clients before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and state regulators in inquiries or investigations into mergers, acquisitions and non-merger business conduct. She also provides antitrust counseling on issues such as diligence and pre-closing conduct, information sharing, competitor collaborations and interlocking directorates. She joins the firm from Goodwin Procter.

“Merger control is an extremely important sector of our Antitrust practice as regulators in the United States and abroad increase scrutiny on large deals, and few lawyers have as much hands-on experience in this area as Kara,” said Darren Tucker, Head of Vinson and Elkins’ Antitrust practice. “She will be a great asset to clients as she works alongside the firm’s corporate lawyers to guide their deals through reviews related to Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR Act) notifications, multi-jurisdictional foreign filings and any resulting competition investigations.”

“The addition of Kara builds on other prominent antitrust hires by the firm in the past six months. In addition to Kara, we have added antitrust litigators Steven Medlock in Washington as well as Mike Scarborough and Dylan Ballard in San Francisco,” said Craig Seebald, Co-Head of Vinson and Elkins’ Litigation & Regulatory department and a leader of the firm’s global Antitrust practice. “We believe antitrust litigation and regulation are growing areas, and with the addition of Kara and the other recent hires, we are one of the elite antitrust firms in the country.”

Prior to joining Goodwin, Kuritz served as the Antitrust Division’s HSR Act specialist at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she advised the Antitrust Division on application of the HSR Act, interlocking directorate issues and antitrust policy questions. She liaised on behalf of the Antitrust Division with the FTC on HSR Act regulations, rulemakings, guidance and enforcement actions.

“Vinson & Elkins offers an exceptional platform for my practice because of the size and scope of the transactions the firm handles and the sheer volume of matters requiring foreign filing analysis in this ever-changing global regulatory environment,” said Kuritz. “The firm is also focused on expanding what is already a nationally recognized Antitrust practice, so this feels like a perfect opportunity for me.”

Kuritz received her J.D. degree from George Mason University School of Law, cum laude, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Washington & Jefferson College (summa cum laude). She previously served as Vice Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law’s Antitrust-Consumer Protection Daily Digest Committee for several years.

Vinson & Elkins’ nationally recognized Antitrust practice guides clients through their most challenging competition law issues. The Antitrust Transactional team possesses a wealth of experience in the approaches, arguments and economics necessary to see a transaction through to approval by U.S. and non-U.S. regulatory agencies, including the FTC, the Antitrust Division of the DOJ, State Attorneys General, the European Commission and competition in authorities in countries around the world.