Lisa Jose Fales

Partner
Fales Lisa Jose

Lisa Jose Fales is chair of Venable's Antitrust Group. Lisa defends clients in antitrust investigations brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and state attorneys general, and in antitrust class action cases. She brings 30 years of experience and strategic insights to defending clients in government antitrust investigations, both civil conduct and merger investigations. Lisa is part of a talented Venable team with a lengthy and successful track record of defending clients in complex multidistrict class actions.

 Lisa has been recognized for her antitrust work by leading industry publications, including Chambers USA, Global Competition Review, National Law Journal, Benchmark Litigation, Law360, Nightingale, and Washington SmartCEO. Under her leadership, Venable has been named to the Global Competition Review's list of Top 100 Antitrust Firms – the GCR 100 – and the publication's annual list of the Top DC Antitrust Practices for five consecutive years.

General counsels of major companies rely on Lisa for the full range of their antitrust needs, including strategic counseling, internal investigations, and compliance. She also works with clients to structure mergers and asset divestitures, shepherd proposed mergers through the FTC and DOJ, and oppose mergers under review by the antitrust enforcement authorities.

She recently served as the antitrust advisor to a special master, a former federal judge, overseeing a highly complex court-ordered plant and asset divestiture, resulting from years of contentious private litigation, the first such privately ordered divestiture.

Her experience spans consumer products and services, and the healthcare, pharmaceutical, supermarket, agriculture, defense, oil and gas, satellite broadcast, and broadcast media sectors, among others.

Experience

Representative Matters

Antitrust Litigation

  • Representing Perdue Farms Inc. (Perdue) against claims brought by multiple putative classes and over 150 direct action plaintiffs alleging that broiler producers conspired to fix the price of broilers by coordinating and restricting production in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, 1:16-cv-08637 (N.D. Ill.)
  • Representing Perdue in an antitrust class action complaint filed on behalf of poultry growers in the United States against allegations that the five largest poultry producers conspired to fix the price of grower pay in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. In re: Broiler Chicken Grower Litigation, 6:17-cv-00033-JS-SPS (E.D. Okla.) (Chicken Growers Antitrust Litigation)
  • Representing Perdue against claims brought on behalf of chicken and turkey plant workers alleging that certain poultry companies, along with two benchmarking services, conspired to fix wages for processing plant workers. Judy Jien, et al. v. Perdue, et al., 1:19-cv-2521 (D. Md.) (Wages Antitrust Litigation)
  • Representing Perdue against claims by putative direct and indirect purchasers of turkey, alleging that ten turkey producers, plus a benchmarking service, conspired to exchange competitively sensitive information regarding their production and sales of turkey. Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative, Inc., et al., v. Agri Stats, Inc. et al., No. 19-cv-08318 (N.D. Ill.); Sandee’s Catering v. Agri Stats, Inc., et al., No. 20-cv-02295 (N.D. Ill.) (Turkey Antitrust Litigation)
  • Defended Ranbaxy, a Hatch-Waxman “first-filer” generic pharmaceutical company, against a multi-billion-dollar class action (MDL) antitrust “reverse payments” claim in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts. Obtained a unanimous defense jury verdict after a seven-week trial, in the first “reverse payment” antitrust trial after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in FTC v. Actavis (In re Nexium [Esomeprazole] Antitrust Litigation)
  • Defended Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., a generic pharmaceutical manufacturer that acquired Ranbaxy, against claims under the Sherman Act arising from an alleged “reverse payment” settlement of patent litigation in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. A highly favorable settlement with retailer and competitor plaintiffs followed a complex four-week jury trial (In re Modafinil Litigation). Defeated certification of the putative direct purchaser class
  • Represented Impax Laboratories, Inc. in “reverse payment” patent settlement cases brought by putative classes of purchasers of Solodyn, an acne treatment drug, and consolidated as an MDL in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts
  • Represented Impax Laboratories, Inc. in “reverse payment” patent settlement cases brought by a putative class of purchasers of Opana, an opioid pain medication, in the Northern District of Illinois

Government Conduct Investigations

  • Represented a major pharmaceutical company in an FTC investigation for alleged antitrust violations involving patent litigation settlements, with no action against client
  • Represented a major hospital system in a DOJ antitrust investigation of alleged collusion to block other hospital systems and insurers, with no action against the client
  • Represented a consumer products company in a DOJ antitrust investigation involving alleged anticompetitive information exchanges, with no action against the client
  • Represented a national health insurer in a DOJ investigation, with no action against the client
  • Represented a leading communications services provider to the pari-mutuel industry in an FTC investigation, with no action against the client
  • Represented an advertising and marketing company in an FTC investigation of online practices
  • Represented multiple third-party witnesses in a variety of FTC and DOJ investigations

Merger and Acquisition Government Investigations

  • Represented Dechra, a global top-10 animal health company, in a six-month FTC investigation of its proposed acquisition of Osurnia, a canine prescription drug being divested by Elanco Animal Health, Inc. as part of its $7.6 billion acquisition of Bayer Animal Health GmbH. The FTC ended up unanimously approving Dechra as the purchaser
  • Univision's acquisition of Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation
  • Nestlé's acquisition of Ralston Purina
  • Chevron's acquisition of Texaco
  • Sunoco's acquisition of various refineries, chemicals, and other assets
  • Albertson's acquisition of American Stores
  • Delhaize America's acquisition of Hannaford Brothers supermarkets
  • Kroger's proposed acquisition of Winn-Dixie’s stores in Texas and Oklahoma
  • Lockheed Martin's attempted acquisition of Northrop Grumman
  • Represented many companies in third-party FTC and DOJ CIDs in investigations of mergers

Antitrust Counseling

  • Retained as the antitrust advisor to Special Master Lawrence F. Stengel, a former federal judge, in a highly complex court-ordered plant and asset divestiture, which resulted from years of contentious antitrust litigation involving interior molded doors and doorskins. Steves and Sons, Inc. v. JELD-WEN, Inc., 3:16-cv-545 (E.D. Va.)
  • Regularly counsels a host of household name companies on antitrust issues in proposed mergers and acquisitions, and on a myriad of business practices, including giving compliance presentations

Insights

Credentials
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Education

  • J.D. University of Baltimore School of Law 1990
    • Articles editor, University of Baltimore Law Review
  • B.A. University of Maryland 1984

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Maryland

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Professional Memberships and Activities

  • Member, Board of Directors, Calvary Women’s Services, Washington, DC
  • Council member (current), Antitrust Section, American Bar Association
  • Editor and editorial board member, Antitrust magazine, Antitrust Section, ABA (for ten years)
  • Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America, The Trial Lawyer Honorary Society
  • Former chair, DC Bar Association, Consumer Affairs Committee
  • Member, Maryland State Bar Association
  • Former board member, Women’s Law Center of Maryland
  • Former member, Benefits Committee, Legal Momentum
  • Member, Fellows of the American Bar Association

Recognition
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  • Chambers USA, Antitrust: Litigation Specialists, Washington, DC, 2022 – 2023
  • Expert Guides, Women in Business Law, Competition and Antitrust, 2022
  • Benchmark Litigation
    • Local Litigation Star, 2019 – 2024
    • Top 250 Women in Litigation, 2016 – 2023
  • Super Lawyers, Washington, DC, 2019 – 2023
  • Lawdragon, 500 Leading Litigators in America, 2022, 2024
  • Global Competition Review, Antitrust Litigation and Government Enforcement Defense, 2015 – 2022
  • National Law Journal, Trailblazer, Mergers & Acquisitions, Antitrust, 2018
  • Law360, Legal Lion
  • Nightingale’s Healthcare News, Outstanding Healthcare Antitrust Lawyer
  • Washington SmartCEO, Legal Elite, Antitrust Law
  • Antitrust Group, Co-chair (Venable has been named to the Global Competition Review's list of Top 100 Antitrust Firms – the GCR 100 – and the publication's annual list of the Top DC Antitrust Practices for five consecutive years)
  • Business Today, Top 10 DC Antitrust Litigation Specialists to Watch, 2023

Community
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Pro Bono

  • Member, Board of Directors, Calvary Women’s Services, Washington, DC
  • Tutored underserved students in Washington, DC