Former Antitrust Adviser to DOJ’s Kanter Returns to Boutique

Eric Posner, a former top adviser to Justice Department antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter, is returning to trial law boutique MoloLamken.

Posner will be part-time of counsel when he rejoins later this month. For nearly two years he served as counsel to Kanter before leaving Justice in February 2023 to teach at the University of Chicago’s law school.

“I’m excited to help the firm bring more antitrust cases, particularly on behalf of workers,” Posner said in an interview.

MoloLamken, founded in 2009 in New York, is a litigation firm with offices in New York, Washington and Chicago. The firm represented defendant Anywhere Real Estate, which last year settled two antitrust lawsuits for $83.5 million.

Antitrust litigation has been a focus under President Joe Biden. Kanter teamed up with the Federal Trade Commission to fight unsuccessfully to block Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc.

Kanter is fighting in federal court in Virginia to get Google to pay at least $300 million as Justice alleges the company is monopolizing advertising technology that stifles online competition.

Antitrust is emerging as a litigation center for MoloLamken, co-founder Steve Molo said. “There are causes of action and claims that didn’t exist when we founded the firm,” he said.

Before joining the Justice Department’s antitrust division in February 2022, Posner was counsel at MoloLamken for close to four years. He’s been a professor at Chicago’s law school for over two decades.

While the level of future antitrust regulatory scrutiny is still in flux until after the 2024 presidential election, Posner said private-sector antitrust litigation will flourish. Past antitrust wins against behemoth firms in court spawn additional cases, he said.

“People learn things about these companies through litigation that can provide the basis for additional lawsuits,” Posner said. “When the firms lose, they seem less formidable as opponents.”