Clifford Chance announced that Sharis A. Pozen is joining the firm as a partner and will co-chair the global antitrust group. She will be based in Washington, DC.
Pozen comes to Clifford Chance from General Electric, where she was the company's vice president for Global Competition Law and Policy. In that role, she was responsible for leading GE's global merger clearance on numerous significant, transformational deals, steering global antitrust investigations to positive conclusions, antitrust compliance and other related issues.
"This is an exciting addition for our Antitrust practice," said Americas regional managing partner Evan Cohen. "Sharis has extensive government and private practice experience and is one of the few antitrust practitioners who has served in high-level positions at both the US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. We are very pleased to have her join our partnership. "
Pozen will co-chair Clifford Chance's Global Antitrust Group with Brussels-based partner Thomas Vinje, one of Europe's leading antitrust lawyers, and joins Washington-based partner Tim Cornell, who leads the Antitrust team in the Americas region.
"I could not be happier to welcome Sharis to the Firm as a Co-Chair to our global Antitrust team and know that clients will benefit from her unique insights and experience in this increasingly complex business environment," said Vinje. "Sharis brings a wealth of antitrust experience. Her arrival bolsters our ability to advise and represent US and international clients in a wide range of industries on their most pressing and complex matters. For the last five years, Sharis has worked very closely with many of our global competition and antitrust partners, so our team was delighted to learn that she would be joining us."
Prior to joining GE, Pozen was a leader of Skadden's antitrust and competition practice. During her 30-year career in government, corporate and private practice, she has advised clients on a broad spectrum of antitrust issues related to mergers and acquisitions, litigation, criminal investigations and counseling across national and multinational industries, including technology and telecommunications, healthcare and pharmaceutical, energy, financial services, transportation and agriculture.
"Our global antitrust capabilities and experience are critical to our clients operating across the world," said Matthew Layton, Clifford Chance's global managing partner. "We are very pleased to be welcoming Sharis as Co-Chair of the global group."
While serving as acting Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust at the DOJ prior to joining Skadden, Pozen led many high-profile matters and worked extensively with leaders of international antitrust authorities. She oversaw the DOJ's efforts in blocking AT&T's proposed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile as well as several criminal antitrust matters, including the successful investigation and prosecution of criminal price-fixing activity in the auto parts industry – the largest criminal matter in the division's history.
"Leaving GE was a very difficult decision, but I'm excited to return to private practice and join the highly respected global team at Clifford Chance,” said Pozen. "The Firm has a fabulous, truly integrated global platform and reach, with an impressive portfolio of pending antitrust matters and a group of partners I know and deeply respect. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue working with them and to help build upon the Firm’s strength in global competition law.”