Biography • Competition

Paul Yde is a partner in Freshfields' US antitrust group, based in Washington, DC. His practice primarily involves representing parties before the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and state attorneys general on the antitrust aspects of M&A, joint ventures, distribution and intellectual property arrangements, and other competitive conduct. Paul has acted as lead counsel on numerous complex matters relating to a variety of industries, including a continuous docket of merger and conduct investigations at both the DOJ and FTC. He has litigated antitrust cases before federal and state courts and in federal administrative proceedings.

Before establishing Freshfields' antitrust practice in 2002, Paul was a partner at a major US firm. Among his prior positions in government antitrust enforcement, he has served as counsel to two Federal Trade Commissioners and as an FTC litigation attorney. Paul is trained in both law and economics, having received undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics with a specialisation in industrial organisation (antitrust) economics.

Paul is recognised as a leading antitrust lawyer by every major rating organisation. His work on the United/Continental airline merger was recognised as the top antitrust M&A defence of 2010 by Global Competition Review and by the New York Times. Paul has been active in the leadership of the antitrust section of the ABA, having served as a senior editor of the Antitrust Law Journal and of the Antitrust Magazine, and as the chair of the economics committee.

Freshfields' antitrust competition and trade practice comprises more than 50 partners and 260 specialists based in Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, the UK and the US. Our coverage of Asia, Europe and the US enables us to advise our clients in competition cases involving many jurisdictions around the world.