
Darren Tucker

2200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Suite 500 West
Washington, DC 20037





Darren Tucker is the chair of the firm’s antitrust practice group, where he focuses on merger and non-merger antitrust investigations in the technology, energy and pharmaceutical sectors. Darren draws on both his experience as a former Federal Trade Commission attorney and his more than 15 years in private practice to provide valuable insights to clients regarding competition enforcement and policy issues. He advises clients on a range of pricing and distribution issues and helps clients close mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures worth billions of dollars annually.
In addition to representing clients before the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, Darren has extensive experience on competition matters outside the U.S., having counseled clients on antitrust matters in Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. He is skilled at collaborating with local counsel around the world, and he is among the few attorneys whose practice includes global dominance investigations. All major legal credentialing organizations, including Chambers, Global Competition Review, and Legal 500, recognize Darren as a leading antitrust practitioner.
Darren regularly speaks and writes on antitrust issues relevant to technology, energy, and life science companies, as well as on competition agency practice and procedure. He served as the Editorial Chair of the eighth edition of Antitrust Law Developments, a leading antitrust treatise. He also served as Editorial Chair of the ABA’s Antitrust Source and editorial advisory board member for Law360 Competition. He has taught an advanced antitrust seminar as an adjunct professor at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. He has been part of the leadership of the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law for over a decade, where he currently serves as an Officer.
Experience Highlights
Represented Google in its $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit, which closed in 2021 without opposition from the DOJ
Represented a leading midstream company in one of the largest energy acquisitions of 2020
Represented a housing data licensing company before the FTC in support of a compliance investigation that led to a second divestiture of the respondent’s assets, a remedy imposed only once before
Obtained REMS-restricted product samples from branded firm on behalf of generic pharmaceutical firm
Represented a leading U.S. internet services company in global dominance investigations and counseling matters
Represented a leading health care system with obtaining FTC approval for multiple acquisitions and joint ventures in the same metro area
Represented clients on competition enforcement issues related to standard essential patents, big data, pricing algorithms, and the intersection of privacy and antitrust
Credentials
- University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., 1998
- The College of William and Mary, B.A., 1995
- From 2009-2013, Darren served as an attorney advisor to Commissioners Joshua D. Wright and J. Thomas Rosch at the FTC. In that role, Darren advised on all aspects of the FTC’s competition mission, including staff enforcement recommendations, litigation strategy, and policy matters. He also drafted official opinions, statements, speeches, articles, and testimony. Notable matters on which Darren worked while at the FTC include the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines; the North Carolina Dental, Realcomp, ProMedica, and Polypore adjudicative proceedings; the Express Scripts/Medco merger; and the 2011 Accountable Care Organization enforcement policy. This experience allows Darren to provide valuable insights to clients regarding competition enforcement and policy issues.
- Clerkship to Judge Edmund Ludwig of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (1998 – 1999)
- Chambers USA, Antitrust (District of Columbia), 2020
- Selected to the Washington D.C. Super Lawyers list, Super Lawyers® (Thomson Reuters), 2018-2020
- The Best Lawyers in America© (BL Rankings, LLC), Antitrust Law, 2019-2021
- Recognized as a “Future Leader” for being one of the top antitrust lawyers under the age of 45, Global Competition Review and Who’s Who Legal, 2017
- Legal 500 U.S., Antitrust: Cartel, 2016-2017 and 2019-2020; Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Actions – Defense, 2016-2017, 2019 and 2020; Antitrust: Merger Control, 2016-2017, 2019 and 2020
- Recognized, U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers 2017 Practice Group of the Year for Antitrust Law (2017)
- Nominee: Concurrences’ Antitrust Writing Award (2014 – 2015)
- Adjunct Professor: Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University (Fall Semester 2017)
- Editorial Chair: ABA Antitrust Source (2009–2015)
- Member: Law360 Competition Editorial Advisory Board (2011–2016)
- Leadership: ABA Section of Antitrust Law (2006–present); currently serve as Publications Officer
- District of Columbia, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Circuit U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, U.S. Supreme Court
- InsightMarch 24, 2021
- Event RecapFebruary 10, 2021
- InsightFebruary 3, 2021
V&E Antitrust Update
- InsightJanuary 20, 2021
Published in Law360
- InsightJanuary 7, 2021
V&E Antitrust Update
- Deals & CasesNovember 19, 2020
- Deals & CasesNovember 9, 2020
- Deals & CasesNovember 4, 2020
- Deals & CasesOctober 20, 2020
- InsightOctober 2, 2020
- Rankings & AwardsAugust 20, 2020
- InsightAugust 7, 2020
Published in Antitrust, Vol. 34, No. 3, Summer 2020, © 2020 by the American Bar Association
- InsightJuly 8, 2020
V&E Antitrust Update
- InsightJune 22, 2020
V&E Antitrust Update
- Deals & CasesJune 18, 2020
- Rankings & AwardsJune 16, 2020
- Rankings & AwardsApril 23, 2020
- Rankings & AwardsApril 17, 2020
- V&E+March 9, 2020
- Deals & CasesFebruary 4, 2020
- InsightJanuary 29, 2020
V&E Antitrust Update
- InsightJanuary 22, 2020
V&E Antitrust Update
- InsightJanuary 15, 2020
V&E Antitrust Update
- Rankings & AwardsAugust 15, 2019
- InsightVol. 33, Summer 2019
First Published in ABA’s Antitrust
- Phillips 66 and Plains All American Announce Strategic JV and Sanctioning of Red Oak Pipeline SystemDeals & CasesJune 11, 2019
- Rankings & AwardsMay 30, 2019
- Rankings & AwardsApril 19, 2019
- Deals & CasesMarch 25, 2019
- Deals & CasesMarch 6, 2019
- Deals & CasesFebruary 26, 2019
- Deals & CasesFebruary 21, 2019
- InsightFebruary 19, 2019
V&E Antitrust Transactional Update E-communication
- Deals & CasesFebruary 19, 2019
- Event RecapJanuary 17, 2019
- InsightJanuary 7, 2019
V&E Antitrust Update
- V&E+December 5, 2018
- Deals & CasesNovember 27, 2018
- Deals & CasesNovember 19, 2018
- Deals & CasesSeptember 28, 2018
- Deals & CasesJune 28, 2018
- InsightJune 27, 2018
V&E Antitrust Update
- InsightJune 19, 2018
V&E Antitrust Update
- Deals & CasesJune 18, 2018
- Event RecapJune 13, 2018
- InsightMay 23, 2018
V&E Antitrust Update E-communication
- InsightMay 14, 2018
V&E FTC Update E-communication
- Rankings & AwardsApril 23, 2018
- Press ReleaseFebruary 1, 2018
- InsightJanuary 25, 2018
V&E Antitrust Update E-communication
- InsightVol. 18, No. 3
First published in Antitrust Law Journal
- InsightMay 2015
First published in CPI Antitrust Chronicle
- InsightDecember 2014
First published by American Bar Association
- InsightVol. 29, No. 1
First published in Antitrust Magazine
- Energy Antitrust: The Year In Review And What Lies Ahead | Law 360 Competition, January 20, 2021
- The Durability of the New Vertical Merger Guidelines | Antitrust Magazine, 34, No. 3, 2020
- Key Trends In Energy Antitrust Enforcement And Litigation | Law 360 Competition, January 21, 2020
- The Antitrust Divergence at the FTC: Beyond Vertical Mergers | Antitrust Magazine, 33, No. 3, 2019
- “Is Digital the Dawn of a New Day or Just a Big Ditto?” Antitrust Economics Workshop at Fordham University School of Law, September 11, 2019 (panelist)
- “Advocating Before the Agencies: White Paper & Meetings,” Antitrust Law 2019 Spring Meeting, March 27, 2019 (panelist)
- Recent Trends In Energy Antitrust Enforcement And Litigation | Law 360 Competition, February 4, 2019
- Roundtable: Discussing the Big Picture on Big Data | Antitrust Source, December 2018 (panelist)
- Antitrust Claims Against Google Are Ridiculous Because Consumers Are Not Getting Harmed | The Daily Caller, February 23, 2018
- REMS: The Next Pharmaceutical Enforcement Priority? | Antitrust Magazine, Vol. 28, No. 2, 2014
- Internet Ready: Agency Enforcement of Online Mergers | Antitrust Magazine, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 80, Fall 2011
- Emerging Theories of Competitive Harm in Merger Enforcement | Antitrust Source, October 2011
- Effective Advocacy Before the Commission | Antitrust Magazine, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2010
- Antitrust Risk-Shifting Provisions in Merger Agreements After the Financial Collapse | Antitrust Source, April 2009
- Seventeen Years Later: Thoughts on Revising the Horizontal Merger Guidelines | Antitrust Source, October 2009
- FTC Merger Enforcement after CCC/Mitchell: A Response to Slater | The Threshold, Vol. 10, No. 1, Fall 2009
- Keeping the Engagement Ring: Apportioning Antitrust Risk with Reverse Breakup Fees | Antitrust Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2008
- The Customer is Sometimes Right: The Role of Customer Views in Merger Investigations | Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Vol. 3, Issue 4, pp. 551-607, 2007
- The Elephant in the Room: Litigating the Fix after Arch Coal and Dairy Farmers | Antitrust Source, January 2006
- The Merger Guidelines Commentary: Practical Guidance and Missed Opportunities | Antitrust Source, May 2006
- FDA Citizen Petitions: A New Means of Delaying Generic Entry? | Antitrust Health Care Chronicle, Vol. 20, No. 3, p. 10, 2006
News & Insights
V&E Antitrust Update
Published in Law360