Gibson Dunn Bulks Up Busy Antitrust Group with Multiple Hires, Including Senior Antitrust Counsel from Novartis

Firm News  |  May 31, 2023


Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce that it has strengthened its Antitrust and Competition Practice Group with two new lawyers in the Washington, D.C. office: Ryan Foley has joined the firm as of counsel, and Zoë Hutchinson is a new lateral associate.

Before joining Gibson Dunn, Ryan served as Senior Counsel, Antitrust Americas, at Novartis, where he managed antitrust and competition law issues for both North and South America, counseling on complex transaction, litigation, government investigation, and compliance strategies across the company’s branded, generic, and retail businesses. Prior to that, Ryan worked as an antitrust associate at two other international law firms, specializing in complex merger clearances, including Boehringer Ingelheim’s $8 billion asset swap with Sanofi. He received his law degree from the George Washington University Law School, where he was a Thurgood Marshall Scholar.

Zoë comes to Gibson Dunn as a seasoned antitrust associate who was previously at Latham & Watkins LLP and before law school was a senior consultant at FTI Consulting. She focuses on representing companies in antitrust investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, and was part of the team defending GRAIL in its acquisition by Illumina, Inc. and American Airlines in defense of its North East Alliance with JetBlue. Zoë graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as online editor of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.

“We are excited to have Ryan and Zoë on our team,” said Rachel Brass, a San Francisco partner and Co-Chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice Group. “Each is a well-rounded antitrust lawyer who can pivot readily from investigations, to mergers, to counseling, and will bring depth of skill and experience to our clients.”

“Gibson Dunn’s antitrust team is experiencing unprecedented demand across all of our offices and the hiring of top-notch talent like Ryan and Zoë reflects our commitment to remaining well-equipped to guide our clients through this aggressive antitrust climate,” said Stephen Weissman, global Co-Chair of the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group.

Gibson Dunn’s worldwide Antitrust and Competition Practice Group handles leading-edge competition matters on U.S. and international competition issues, including government review of mergers and acquisitions, cartel investigations and the defense of cartel prosecutions, class action treble damage litigation, private antitrust litigation in the United States and Europe, and defense of private sector clients in antitrust actions before government authorities. Our antitrust team includes former high-ranking officials from the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office and the European Commission, as well as Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers.