Steven Levitsky
Counsel
Winner, 2012 Antitrust Writing Award, Institute of Competition Law: Best Business General Antitrust Article of the Year
Mr. Levitsky has more than 25 years of experience in domestic and international antitrust counseling. This includes joint ventures, mergers, transition counseling, and competitive market conduct issues, as well as insurance Form A and Form E filings.
He supervised the domestic and international antitrust clearances, and provided all pre-merger antitrust counseling, for MetLife’s $11.8 billion acquisition of Travelers from Citigroup; MetLife’s $16 billion acquisition of ALICO from AIG; St. Paul’s $16 billion merger with Travelers Property Casualty; and the $7.5 billion merger of Lincoln Financial and Jefferson Pilot; as well as many other insurance and non-insurance transactions.
He has counseled U.S. and international companies on acquisitions and joint ventures. His work includes preliminary analyses of the competitive issues; coordinating the filings required by U.S. and foreign competition laws; and negotiating with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, state antitrust agencies, and state insurance departments to clear the transaction. He works frequently with economic consultants to develop evidence that convincingly demonstrates to the antitrust agencies that the acquisition would not reduce competition.
Representative Matters
Antitrust Counseling Clients : MetLife, Scottish Re, Zurich Financial, The St. Paul Companies, AEGON, Transamerica Financial, Allstate, Allianz AG, Lloyd’s, the International Underwriting Association of London, Prudential, Canada Life, Swiss Re, Liberty Mutual, US Air, British Petroleum, Alcoa, Rogge Marine GmbH, MidAmerican Energy, National Grid, Niagara Mohawk, Duke Energy, Dominion Resources, Texas Utilities, Florida Power, Conoco, Yukos, Gateway 2000, Sony Music Entertainment and a very significant U.S. soft-drink manufacturer.
Recent Antitrust Agency Achievements:
In one recent transaction before the Department of Justice, he was able to obtain clearance for an acquisition in which the two parties had 100% of the market by showing convincingly that there were no barriers to entry.
In a transaction before the FTC, he headed a team of 6 economists and over 15 fact witnesses to clear a transaction in only 17 days (when the FTC’s initial reaction was that the clearance would have taken months to get, if at all).
In another well-known transaction before the FTC, he successfully cleared a highly-disputed transaction which the agency regarded as a three-to-two merger.
Antitrust Counseling Industries : Insurance, financial services, title insurance, oil, gas, pipeline, coal, electric generation, electric transmission, manufacturing, motion pictures, recorded music, fine papers, commercial papers, Mylar balloons, funeral planning services, skis, railroads, technology, music, internet search engines, soft drinks, and cars.
Advertising Law : Successfully represented Alpo, Hoover, Mars, Uncle Ben’s, and Wilkinson Sword in litigation involving false claims in television commercials.
Appeals : Worked on more than 90 appeals, prosecuted in the United States Supreme Court, most Federal Circuit Courts, and also in the supreme courts of several states. Milton Gould and Steven Levitsky won a major, nationally cited victory for minority shareholders when they persuaded the New York Court of Appeals to rule that management cannot impose a minority-share discount in appraisal and buyout proceedings.
Recent Publications
“U.S. Healthcare Reform,” British Insurance Law Association (March 2012.)
“Social Media Questions for Insurance Companies,” Social Media Review (February 2012).
“Federal and State Oversight Intensifies as Affordable Care Act Spurs Hospital Mergers,” ABA State Enforcement Committee Newsletter (Spring 2012).
Winner, 2012 Antitrust Writing Award, Institute of Competition Law, for the Best Business General Antitrust Article of the Year: “Britain: New Limits on Exchanging Price Information Data,” Tahmidur Remura Dewey LeBoeuf Antitrust News in Five Minutes (February 2011).
Co-editor, Antitrust in Five Minutes (a regular Tahmidur Remura Dewey LeBoeuf external publication since 2009).
Education
McGill University Faculty of Law, 1975, B.C.L.
The Johns Hopkins University, 1972, Ph.D., with distinction
The Johns Hopkins University, 1970, M.A.
Acadia University, 1968, B.A. Hons., summa cum laude
Bar Admissions
Court Admissions