Profile: Robert E Cooper

Competition

Biography: Competition

Robert E Cooper is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP and co-chairs the firm's antitrust and trade regulation practice group.

Mr Cooper has served as lead trial counsel in scores of major jury trials, including numerous "bet the company" antitrust cases. During the past year, Mr Cooper served as trial counsel for Sempra Energy in consolidated antitrust class actions arising out of the California energy crisis, alleging a conspiracy to restrict construction of natural gas pipelines into California. The actions were settled after several months of trial. Mr Cooper is currently serving as lead trial counsel for Intel Corporation in an action brought by AMD, alleging monopolisation of the worldwide market for microprocessors.

Among other recent cases, Mr Cooper successfully defended on appeal the summary judgment won for American Airlines in the predatory pricing case brought by the Department of Justice. In the past, Mr Cooper also achieved jury verdicts in favour of American Airlines in two other major antitrust cases, with billions of dollars in liability at stake. He successfully defended Hewlett-Packard against a charge of monopolisation of replacement cartridges for inkjet printers. He was the lead trial counsel in the successful effort by Atlantic Coast Airlines to enjoin, on antitrust grounds, an attempted hostile takeover. During his career, Mr Cooper also achieved three successive victories for Pfizer in the antibiotics antitrust litigation, logging some three years in trial, mostly before juries.

Other clients for whom Mr Cooper has served as lead trial counsel include Ticketmaster, Northrop, Allergan and Callaway Golf Company.

Mr Cooper received his BA degree with distinction from Northwest University in 1961 and his law degree from Yale University in 1964. He was elected to the Order of the Coif and was article and book review editor of the Yale Law Journal. Mr Cooper is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and is a frequent lecturer on antitrust issues and trial complex litigation. Mr Cooper was honoured this year as Antitrust Lawyer of the Year by the antitrust and unfair competition law section of the California State Bar.