Jay L. Himes co-chairs Labaton Sucharow’s Antitrust Practice Group. Mr. Himes is experienced in all facets of the antitrust landscape, including investigations and case filings, merger transactions, trial and appellate litigation, and settlement. His practice focuses on representing plaintiffs in price-fixing class action cases, and on protecting businesses and consumers from anticompetitive activities generally. Mr. Himes is actively engaged in the prosecution of major antitrust class actions throughout the United States.
Prior to joining Labaton Sucharow in late 2008, Mr. Himes served as the Antitrust Bureau Chief in the New York Attorney General’s office. He also has more than 30 years’ experience in complex litigation generally.
During his nearly eight-year tenure as New York’s chief antitrust official, Mr. Himes led significant, high-profile antitrust investigations and enforcement actions. These cases included: In re Buspirone Antitrust Litigation ($100 million settlement); In re Cardizem CD Antitrust Litigation ($80 million settlement); and In re Compact Disc Antitrust Litigation ($67 million settlement). Under Mr. Himes’ leadership, the New York Bureau secured its two largest antitrust civil penalties recoveries ever achieved under the State’s antitrust statute.
While heading the New York Antitrust Bureau, Mr. Himes also was the States’ principal representative in the marathon 2001 negotiations that led to a settlement of the governments’ landmark monopolization case against Microsoft. Thereafter, he was a leader in the Microsoft judgment enforcement activity that continued throughout his time at the Attorney General’s office.
Prior to serving in the Attorney General’s office, Mr. Himes practiced complex litigation for 25 years at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. There, he represented the 12 Federal Reserve Banks as plaintiffs in a price-fixing case against the nation’s leading armored car companies, and defended a Revlon healthcare company in a series of price-fixing cases that spanned nearly a decade. More generally, Mr. Himes handled a wide-range of litigation, including securities class actions as well as contract, construction, constitutional, entertainment, environmental, real property and tax litigation. Active in pro bono matters, Mr. Himes worked with the New York Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP and the National Coalition for the Homeless, while also representing inmate and immigration asylum clients.
Mr. Himes is a regular speaker at conferences focusing on antitrust and class actions, and has authored many articles on related issues. He is also a member of the advisory board of the BNA Antitrust & Trade Regulation Reporter and of the Antitrust Chronicle’s editorial advisory group.
Mr. Himes is the vice-chair of the Antitrust Section of the New York State Bar Association, and co-chairs the Antitrust Committee of the State Bar’s Commercial and Federal Litigation Section. He is also a member of antitrust, litigation, information technology and intellectual property groups in the New York City Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
During his time at the University of Wisconsin Law School, Mr. Himes served as the Articles Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. After graduating from law school, he also did an independent study at Oxford University in England.
