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E. Kate Patchen

Kate Patchen is co-chair of Covington’s Antitrust Litigation and Government Investigations Practice Groups. She represents clients in complex antitrust class actions, government investigations, and matters before the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission. Kate also advises companies on competition compliance, joint ventures, and risk management strategies.

Before joining Covington, Kate spent 16 years with the DOJ's Antitrust Division, including serving as Chief of the San Francisco Field Office, where she oversaw the Office’s civil and criminal enforcement programs. She led and supervised international cartel investigations, merger investigations, and represented the government in high-profile antitrust trials.

Following her tenure at the DOJ, Kate served as Director and Associate General Counsel for Competition and Litigation at a large technology company, where she led a global team of antitrust attorneys. She managed complex investigations across multiple jurisdictions, counseled senior executives on competition and regulatory matters, and managed the company’s antitrust litigation in high-profile matters.

Kate serves as an advisor to the Executive Committee of the California Lawyers Association’s Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section and is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section. She is a frequent speaker on antitrust law and enforcement topics at national and international programs.

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On August 5, 2024, Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that Google has monopolized markets for online searches and search text advertising and unlawfully engaged in exclusionary conduct in those markets. Specifically, the court found that Google used revenue sharing agreements with…

Continue Reading D.C. District Court Finds Google Monopolized Online Search Text Ads Markets

October 17, 2023, Covington Alert

What You Need to Know

  • On October 4, 2023, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco provided new and expanded policy guidance on corporate criminal enforcement, announcing a new Mergers and Acquisitions Safe Harbor Policy (“Safe Harbor Policy”).
  • The Safe Harbor Policy provides acquiring companies an opportunity to avoid criminal charges if they voluntarily self-disclose misconduct at acquired companies within six months of a merger or acquisition (“M&A”), fully cooperate in any DOJ investigation, engage in timely and appropriate remediation within one year of the transaction closing date, and pay restitution or disgorgement, as appropriate.
  • The Safe Harbor Policy—which we expect will be formalized in writing and incorporated into the Justice Manual—appears to draw heavily on policies and guidance from the Criminal Division dating back to 2008, but that will now be formalized, clarified, and applied across the Department, with different parts of the Department “tailor[ing] its application . . . to fit their specific enforcement regime.”
  • As with all of the Department’s recent policy announcements concerning the benefits of voluntary disclosure, significant questions remain. We discuss some of those below, and we will be watching to see how DOJ applies the Safe Harbor Policy in practice. At a minimum, however, companies should ensure that their pre- and post-closing diligence and integration processes are designed to quickly identify legacy or ongoing misconduct at acquired companies so that they may have an opportunity to consider the expected benefits and burdens associated with a voluntary disclosure under the Safe Harbor Policy.
  • In addition to announcing the Safe Harbor Policy, Deputy Attorney General Monaco noted a “dramatic” expansion in national security enforcement, new enforcement tools that the Department is deploying, continued focus on incentivizing companies to seek compensation clawbacks from individual wrongdoers, and even more policy changes to come. Deputy Attorney General Monaco’s announcement follows recent shifts in enforcement remedies sought by the Department, such as divestiture in certain criminal antitrust cases—an unprecedented remedial measure.

Continue Reading DOJ Provides Further Voluntary Disclosure Incentives, This Time Linked to M&A Transactions, and Signals Other Areas of Focus