They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40 - Taylor Owings of Wilson Sonsini

Taylor Owings

Age: 39

Law Firm: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Practice Area: Antitrust

Title: Partner

Location: New York

Law School: Vanderbilt University Law School

Please describe two of your most substantial, recent wins in practice.

I’ve recently been helping some of the most innovative companies I’ve ever worked with to boost their business operations through acquisition by strategic buyers. It is especially gratifying to help steer these transactions through antitrust approvals when I’m helping achieve mutual understanding between enforcers and clients whose business plans are going to unlock value for consumers.

In 2025, I helped win approval for my client, Alto Pharmacy, to be acquired by the company that owns LetsGetChecked and Truepill. The combination of these innovative health tech companies brings together more convenient ways for consumers to fulfill their health goals. The antitrust aspects of the case were especially interesting because several state governments got involved—and each state’s unique healthcare landscape made each investigation a little different.

As another example, in 2024, I steered my client, smart television maker Vizio, Inc. through an FTC “Second Request” to complete its $2.3 billion acquisition by Walmart. It was really gratifying to help explain Vizio’s smart television operating system and innovative advertising network to the FTC—when we succeeded in describing the incredible synergies that would come from Walmart’s ownership, the transaction was cleared. The combined company is now on its way to unlocking new opportunities for advertisers and content creators.

What is the most important lesson you learned as a first-year attorney and how does it inform your practice today?

I spent my first year as a lawyer clerking for Judge Douglas Ginsburg on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. In that role, clerks are tasked with drafting opinions based on the decision reached by the appellate panel. I learned a skill that is useful in all aspects of your legal practice: start with the end in mind.

It’s easy for lawyers to get distracted by process or legal hypotheticals, but the most effective lawyers stay focused on the narrowest path to the desired result. In court work, that means resolving only dispositive issues and drafting narrowly to explain only what is both disputed and in need of clarification. In lawyering for clients, it means constantly staying in touch with the business goal and frequently checking in on what outcome or work product will be considered a success.

How do you define success in your practice?

My practice as an antitrust attorney is successful when I can help companies compete more effectively. At times, that has meant enforcing the law to the best of my ability, to clear the market of anticompetitive strategies, and make way for efficient competitors to flourish.

Other times, it has meant convincing the government or a court not to intervene. There is a well-known concept in our practice called the “antitrust paradox,” coming from landmark book by Robert Bork in 1978. The idea is that enforcement actions meant to protect competition can paradoxically harm it by hindering innovation or shielding inefficient businesses.

This ultimately throws sand in the gears of companies striving to meet consumer demand and raises prices for consumers. When the government stands in the way of mergers or conduct that pose no competitive problems, companies lose competitive tools.

My significant experience in government, alongside my work in private practice, gives me an understanding of this phenomenon. I have done my job well when I effectively advise companies on where antitrust laws stop and where their business practices can begin, and when I can help government agencies appreciate where that line should be as well.

What are you most proud of as a lawyer?

I feel proud whenever I have a chance to make an inaccessible concept feel simple and intuitive. In antitrust work, I often serve in the role of translator: explaining complex economic arguments to a judge, complex technologies to the FTC or DOJ, or complex rules to an in-house product counsel. If I can help someone see what the outcome SHOULD be and give them a sense of confidence about WHY it should be that way, I’ve done my job well.

I also feel incredibly proud to be a part of a profession dedicated to upholding the rule of law—one of the most precious and fragile gifts that American business, and society, has. I have felt proud personally in moments when I said “yes” to something that wasn’t easy or convenient, but that advanced the rule-of-law tradition.

For instance, I had the opportunity to write an emergency habeas petition for an asylum seeker who was due to be deported in days. I struggled under the time constraint, and outside my legal comfort zone. But it was extraordinarily motivating to play the role of legal translator: crystallizing my client’s story and elucidating complex concepts about federal court jurisdiction.

My client was rightfully granted a temporary restraining order giving him reprieve from deportation and, years later through the efforts of many other team members, permanent legal status.

Who is your greatest mentor in the law and what have they taught you?

I have been so lucky to have a career with many chapters, and the chance to learn from (and try to emulate!) talented lawyers and leaders in a wide variety of settings. But, when I think of what it means to mentor someone intentionally, I think right away of District Court Judge Richard J. Leon, and the incredible good fortune I had to clerk for him.

Judge Leon makes mentorship of young attorneys a centerpiece of his professional life. He doesn’t just show his clerks how he thinks about the law and how he manages complex disputes; he makes time daily to talk through the most important difference-makers in every situation.

Judge Leon mentors with humility and the sense that “it takes a village” to make a great lawyer: He is quick to acknowledge when he’s not the expert, and just as quick to find someone in his network who is, and is willing to talk through whatever issue or opportunity is at hand.

I owe so much of my fascinating group of friends and mentors in the law to the advice Judge Leon provided and the people he encouraged me to meet. As I become more senior in my own career, I think of him as the gold standard for mentoring, and the example I try to follow.

Tell us your two favorite songs on your summer music playlist.

“Lower East Side” by Mating Ritual. This ultra-creative band that my husband introduced me to released a new album in June and track number three makes me grateful for summers in New York City. [Also] “Summer Girl” by Haim; I feel like the saxophone is making a pop music comeback and it’s a good thing.

Taylor Owings of Wilson Sonsini and her dog, Gatsby, climbing sand dunes in Utah.

Photo Illustration: Jonathan Hurtarte/Bloomberg Law; Photo courtesy of Taylor Owings