Leading FTC Antitrust Attorney Kevin Hahm Joins Hunton Andrews Kurth

Kevin Hahm, former Assistant Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Mergers IV Division, has joined Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP as a partner in the firm’s competition and consumer protection practice.

Based in Washington, Hahm provides strategic premerger counseling and defense of complex mergers and acquisitions, which includes advising on the merger review and clearance process, premerger filings including those required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, representing clients before U.S. and foreign antitrust authorities during merger investigations and merger litigation defense before courts and administrative tribunals.

“Kevin is a highly respected antitrust lawyer whose experience at the helm of the FTC’s venerated Mergers IV Division will serve to benefit our clients and further enhance our rapidly growing antitrust team,” said Ryan P. Phair, head of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s competition and consumer protection practice. “As an M&A trial lawyer who has been actively involved in nearly one-third of all FTC merger challenges over the past 12 years, including many of its most successful recent challenges, Kevin is positioned to help us continue to grow our award-winning merger litigation, clearance, and counseling practice, particularly for clients in the retail, consumer goods, and health care space.”

In recent years, Hunton Andrews Kurth has been recognized for several precedent-setting achievements in antitrust merger litigation, including the first private merger challenge to be tried successfully before a jury and the first private merger challenge to result in the unwinding of a previously consummated merger.

During his tenure at the FTC, Hahm led several high-profile merger challenges spanning the healthcare, retail and consumer products industries. Hahm’s 16-year career at the FTC began in 1996 as a staff attorney in the agency’s Healthcare Division. He departed the agency for private practice in 1998, returning in 2006, when he joined the Mergers IV Division as a staff attorney. In 2011, Hahm served a one-year term as Counsel to the Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition and was later promoted to Deputy Assistant Director of the Mergers IV Division in 2013, a position he held until he was appointed as Assistant Director in 2018.

“I want to thank Kevin Hahm for his work in the Bureau of Competition and, most importantly, for his contribution to our competition enforcement,” said Ian Conner, Director of the FTC Bureau of Competition. “Kevin leaves a considerable legacy with the many attorneys that he trained and helped develop.”

A graduate of Swarthmore College and Tulane Law School, Hahm is a recipient of the FTC’s Director’s Award and a five-time Janet D. Steiger Award honoree.

Hunton Andrews Kurth’s experience working both inside and outside of antitrust enforcement agencies enables the firm to provide counsel regarding all types of competition and consumer protection matters in a multitude of jurisdictions worldwide. Having represented clients in some of the most high-profile antitrust matters in recent years, the team is prepared to help global organizations navigate the ever-changing antitrust landscape through the challenges of complex government and private investigations, litigation and merger reviews.