Skip to main content

This is archived content from the U.S. Department of Justice website. The information here may be outdated and links may no longer function. Please contact webmaster@usdoj.gov if you have any questions about the archive site.

Joe Sims Biography

Jones Day Banner image

Joe Simms

Image of Joe SimmsPartner
Washington
Tel: 1.202.879.3863
Fax: 1.202.626.1747
E-mail: jsims@jonesday.com

Joe Sims is a senior antitrust Partner. His practice is concentrated in antitrust and related areas of government regulation and includes litigation, counseling, and agency practice before state and federal courts, antitrust enforcement agencies, and various specialized agencies (e.g., FCC and DOT) where competition policy or antitrust issues arise. He has especially broad experience in dealing with mergers and acquisitions and with the full range of antitrust issues involving technology, telecommunications, and the electronic media industries. Representative clients include Abbott Laboratories, AOL, Apple, Aventis S.A., Cabot Corporation, Campbell Soup, Chevron, Dell, Ernst & Young, General Motors, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Intuit, Liberty Media, Nextel Communications, Procter & Gamble, Reynolds American, Texas Instruments, Time Warner, UPM, U.S. Steel, Viacom/CBS, Wal- Mart, and XM Radio.

Joe is a member of the American Bar Association (Antitrust Law Section, former chair of the Section 1 Committee and the Civil Practice and Procedure Committee; Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section; Litigation Section; and Business Law Section, former chair of the Antitrust Law Committee). He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of The American Law Institute.

Joe regularly writes and lectures on antitrust and related subjects. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, The World's Leading Lawyers, Who's Who Legal, and in most other publications recognizing leading antitrust lawyers in the world. In 2006, Joe was named a co-winner of the U.S. Antitrust Award at Chambers "Awards for Excellence" ceremony. In 2001, he was included in a listing of the world's top 10 antitrust lawyers by Global Counsel magazine and is the only antitrust lawyer ever recognized (in 2000) as a "Dealmaker of the Year" by The American Lawyer magazine. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and a majority of the federal courts of appeal.

Admitted
Arizona and District of Columbia

Education
Arizona State University (B.S. 1967; Comment Editor, Law Journal; J.D. magna cum laude 1970)

Government Service
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, United States Department of Justice (1975-1978)

EXPERIENCE


Abbott Laboratories
Acquisition of Knoll Pharmaceuticals
Successful antitrust clearance of Abbott's purchase of Knoll
Pharmaceuticals.

America Online, Inc.
Netscape Acquisition and Strategic Alliance with Sun Microsystems
Successful clearance in the U.S. and EU of America Online's acquisition of
Netscape and its strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems.

Time Warner Merger
Successful antitrust clearance of America Online's merger with Time
Warner, one of the largest corporate mergers ever proposed.

American Tower Corporation
Various Tower Company Acquisitions
Successful antitrust clearance of numerous tower company acquisitions
by American Tower Corporation.

Aventis S.A.
In re Vitamins Antitrust Litig., MDL Docket No. 1285 (D.D.C.)
Representation of Aventis in connection with civil litigation filed against
vitamin producers.

Caremark Rx, Inc.
Acquisition of AdvancePCS
Successful antitrust clearance of the acquisition by Caremark Rx of
AdvancePCS.

CBS, Inc.
Infinity Broadcasting Acquisition
Successful antitrust clearance of CBS's acquisition of Infinity
Broadcasting.

American Radio Systems Acquisition
Successful antitrust clearance of CBS's acquisition of American Radio
Systems.

Viacom Transaction
Successful antitrust clearance of CBS's combination with Viacom,
creating one of the largest integrated media entities in the world.

Chevron Corporation
Texaco v. Dagher, 126 S.Ct. 1276 (2006)
Successful representation of Texaco concerning alleged price-fixing
between Texaco and Shell Oil after entering a joint venture.

Unocal Acquisition
Successful antitrust clearance of Chevron's acquisition of Unocal.

Ernst & Young International
Combination with KPMG
Obtained antitrust clearance for both Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young
in the first combination of Big Eight accounting firms.

European pharmaceutical manufacturer
Vitamins Cartel Investigation
U.S. and EU investigations of conduct among vitamin producers.

Galileo International Inc.
Cendant Transaction
Successful worldwide antitrust clearance for Galileo's acquisition by
Cendant.

General Motors Corporation
Acquisition of Hughes Electronics/DirecTV by News Corp
Successful worldwide antitrust clearance for General Motors and Hughes
Electronics in the sale of Hughes to News Corp.

Hospital Corporation of America
Reazin v. Blue Cross, 635 F. Supp. 1287 (D. Kan. 1986), aff壇, 899 F.2d
951 (10th Cir. 1990)

Representation of Hospital Corporation of America and Wesley Hospital in
an antitrust lawsuit against BlueCross of Kansas.

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)
Outside General Counsel
Outside general counsel to international nonprofit organization, ICANN,
charged with management and coordination of the Domain Name
System, which in many respects serves as the telephone book of the
internet.

VeriSign, Inc. v. Internet Corp. for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN),
No. CV 03-1292, 2004 WL 2095696 (C.D. Cal., filed Feb. 26, 2004)

Represented ICANN in antitrust litigation alleging antitrust and contract
claims related to VeriSign's operation of the ".com" internet registry.

Lee Memorial Health System
FTC v. Hosp. Bd. of Dirs. of Lee County, 38 F.3d 1184 (11th Cir. 1994)
Successfully defended Lee Memorial Health System in a preliminary
injunction action brought by the FTC challenging the acquisition of Cape
Coral Medical Center.

Nextel Communications, Inc.
Merger with Sprint
Antitrust counseling with respect to $46.5 billion merger with Sprint.

United States v. Motorola, Inc., No. I:94CV02331 (TFH), 1999 WL
1581522 (D.D.C. 1999)

Representation of Nextel in successful modification of Motorola consent
decree which allowed Nextel to acquire additional 900 MHZ spectrum.

Acquisition of Motorola 800 MHZ SMR Business
Provided antitrust advice to Nextel in connection with its acquisition of
800 MHz frequencies.

Paper and forestry products manufacturer
Cartel Investigation
Various cartel investigations relating to the paper and forestry products
businesses.

Procter & Gamble Company, The
Tambrands Acquisition
Successful antitrust clearance for Procter & Gamble's acquisition of
Tambrands.

Acquisition of Gillette
Antitrust counsel in connection with acquisition of The Gillette Company.

Wella Acquisition
Successful antitrust clearance for Procter & Gamble's acquisition of
Wella.

Clairol Acquisition
Successful antitrust clearance for Procter & Gamble's acquisition of
Clairol from Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Sale of SpinBrush business
$105 million sale of the SpinBrush toothbrush business to Church &
Dwight Co., Inc.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
In re Cigarette Antitrust Litig., MDL Docket No. 1342, 2000 WL 1508296
(N.D. Ga. June 7, 2000)
Represented R.J. Reynolds in class action litigation alleging price fixing
by major cigarette companies.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc.
Acquisition of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation
Successful worldwide antitrust clearance for the merger of R.J.
Reynolds' U.S. tobacco business with Brown & Williamson Tobacco
Corporation.

Stanley Works, The
Acquisition of National Manufacturing
$170 million acquisition of National Manufacturing Co. d/b/a National
Hardware.

Tele-Communications, Inc.
Acquisition by AT&T
Successful antitrust clearance for the acquisition of TCI cable operations
by AT&T.

Acquisition of Turner Broadcasting by Time Warner
Successful antitrust clearance, after a year-long investigation, of the
acquisition by Time Warner of Turner Broadcasting (in which TCI held a
significant equity position).

TV Guide
Gemstar Combination
Represented TV Guide in the antitrust aspects of its merger with
Gemstar.

UPM-Kymmene Corporation
In re Pressure Sensitive Labelstock Antitrust Litig., MDL Docket No. 1556
(M.D. Pa., filed 2003)
Representation of UPM-Kymmene in antitrust class action litigation
involving sales of pressure-sensitive labelstock Publication Paper
Antitrust Litigation.

Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Siemens Power Generation Transaction
Antitrust clearance for sale of power generation business to Siemens AG.

PUBLICATIONS


August 2006 Section 5 of the FTC Act:
Déjà Vu All Over Again?
March 2006 New FTC Second Request
Procedures
August 2005 Trustbuster, Heal Thyself,
The American Lawyer - PDF
December 2004 Federal Merger
Enforcement: Is There a
Message in Recent Losses?
(editorial), The Metropolitan
Corporate Counsel
November 2004 Competition Law: United
States, Global Counsel
Competition Law Handbook
2004/05, Practical Law
Company - PDF
October 2004 Federal Merger
Enforcement: Is There a
Broader Message in Recent
Losses?
October 2004 US Antitrust Gets Chance to
Start Over, Expert Guide to
Competition and Antitrust
Lawyers, Legal Media
Group
August 2004 U.S. Supreme Court
Tackles International
Antitrust Issues
November 2003 Competition Law: United
States, Global Counsel
Competition Law Handbook
2003/04, Practical Law
Company - PDF
June 5, 2003 Market Power in High-
Technology Industries,
coauthor, The Stanford
Conference on Antitrust in
the Technology Economy
May 2002 Recent Developments in
International Cartel
Enforcement:The EU's New
Leniency Notice
Spring 2002 A Reply to Professor
Froomkin's Form and
Substance in Cyberspace,
The Journal of Small and
Emerging Business Law,
Lewis & Clark College,
Northwestern School of
Law, Vol.6
February 8, 2002 Appraising DOJ's New
Initiative for Pre-Merger
Review, Legal
Backgrounder
October/December 2001 Negotiated Merger
Remedies: How Well Do
They Solve Competition
Problems? coauthor, The
George Washington Law
Review , Vol. 69
January 1999 The Internet, E-Money, Vol.
1, No. 9
1998 A Program That Has Lost
Its Way, coauthored with
Deborah Herman, Legal
Times
December 1997 Antitrust in the Digital Age:
Important or Irrelevant?
coauthor, Intellectual
Property Magazine
August 1997 Making Sense of Staples
and Boeing/McDonnell
Douglas, Andrews Antitrust
Litigation Reporter
August/September 1997 Making Sense of Bob
Pitofsky, Global
Competition Review
Spring 1997 The Effect of Twenty Years
of Hart-Scott-Rodino on
Merger Practice: A Case
Study in the Law of
Unintended Consequences
Applied to Antitrust
Legislation, coauthor with
Deborah Herman, Antitrust
Law Journal, Vol. 65, No. 3
July 1996 Efficiency Genie is out of
the Bottle, Corporate
Finance
1996 A New Approach to the
Analysis of Hospital
Mergers, Antitrust Law
Journal, Vol 64

PAST SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS


U.S. Antitrust Update, 2005
Petroleum Marketing Attorneys
Meeting
March 29, 2005 Washington,
D.C.
Hot Topics, ABA Section of
Antitrust Law Spring Meeting,
panelist
March 2005 Washington,
D.C.
The Beginning of the End or the
End of the Beginning? Recent
Government Antitrust
Enforcement in High-Tech
Industries, JD MCLE University
January 12, 2005 San
Francisco,
California
Modernization I - A Half Year In,
British Institute of International &
Comparative Law Annual
Competition Law Forum, panel
discussion
December 7, 2004 London,
England
Antitrust -Intellectual Property
Update, panelist, The Federalist
Society Annual National Lawyers
Convention
November 12,
2004
Washington,
D.C.
Big Brother is Watching: A
Survey of the Regulatory
Landscape Impacting Outsourcing
Transactions, International Law
and Technology Forum, Institute
for Law and Technology of the
Center for American and
International Law
September 23-24,
2004
Plano,
Texas
Fire and Ice: Antitrust Law and
Intellectual Property Rights,
International Law & Technology
Forum
September 2004 Dallas,
Texas
The Muris FTC Nears Three
Years: An Appraisal, panelist,
2004 Antitrust Conference, The
Conference Board
March 3-4, 2004 New York,
New York
Institute for Law and Technology
of the Center for American and
International Law
November 3-4,
2003
Dallas,
Texas
International Regulation of
Mergers, Sweet & Maxwell
European Competition Law
Review Conference, 2003
October 7, 2003 London,
England
Market Power, panelist, The
Stanford Conference on Antitrust
in the Technology Economy, ABA
Section of Antitrust Law
June 5, 2003 Palo Alto,
California
AOL/Time Warner and Interactive
Television: The Intersection of
TV, Computers, the Internet and
Section 7 of the Clayton Act,
panelist, ABA Section of Antitrust
Law Spring Meeting
March 30, 2001 Washington,
D.C.
Forging Consensus to Manage a
Global Resource, Issue
Management Council
January 28, 2000 Washington,
D.C.
Antitrust.com: Emerging Antitrust
Issues in E-Commerce,
moderator, ABA Section of
Antitrust Law
Video/TeleConference
October 21, 1999 Washington,
D.C.
Duality and Antitrust: The
Visa/Mastercard Story, TSYS
Executive Conference
April 13, 1999 Aspen,
Colorado
Antitrust Issues in High-Tech
Industries Workshop, moderator,
ABA Section of Antitrust Law
February 25-26,
1999
Scottsdale,
Arizona
ABA Econometric Program, ABA
Section of Antitrust Law Spring
Meeting
April 1998 Washington,
D.C.
Access Rules, Communications
Bar Association and ABA Antitrust
Communications Program
March 11, 1998  
Merger Policy and Procedures,
panelist, The Conference Board's
1998 Antitrust Conference
March 5, 1998 New York,
New York
Testimony before the Senate
Judiciary Committee, Hearings on
Federal Antitrust Policy in the
Healthcare Marketplace
September 23,
1997
Washington,
D.C.
A Washington Antitrust Primer,
Freedom Academy
June 13, 1997 Colorado
Springs,
Colorado
Antitrust Primer for Broadcasters,
NAB Broadcasters' Law &
Regulation Conference
April 8, 1997 Las Vegas,
Nevada
Substantive Antitrust Issues in
Radio Mergers, NAB Radio Fly-In
February 19, 1997 Washington,
D.C.

 

Updated January 3, 2024