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ACADEMIC PROGRAM

Legal Track #1 | Session 1 - THE EVOLUTION OF COLLECTIVE ENFORCEMENT IN ANTITRUST LITIGATION: STRATEGIES AND TRENDS ACROSS BORDERS

Organized by the Antritrust and Litigation Commissions

DATE & TIME​

LOCATION

🗓️Tuesday, August 26
🕐 10:00-11:00 EDT

📍Waldorf Astoria

DESCRIPTION

The widespread use of litigation funding has been lauded as balancing the scales in litigation—permitting litigants with scarce or insufficient resources the ability to fund litigation against bigger operations. In antitrust litigation, which involves allegations of market-wide harm that entails costly expert and discovery expenditures, litigation funding is a valuable tool that affords victims of anticompetitive behavior the ability to seek recourse against well-funded corporations. This panel will:

  • Examine the rise of third-party funding in antitrust litigation;
  • Discuss the ethical considerations pertaining to third party funding in relation to antitrust litigation, including the implications of having a third-party funder participate in strategy and decision making; and
  • Discuss practical challenges pertaining to the use of third-party funding, such as the impact of having third-party funders in relation to the attorney-client privilege.

SPEAKERS

Jason Levine

Omni Bridgeway, USA

Bio

Jason is head of Omni Bridgeway’s Washington D.C. office and he leads its U.S. antitrust work. He has sourced and underwritten hundreds of litigation investments, and he has managed matters with over $10 billion in potential damages across the range of commercial litigation. Before joining Omni Bridgeway, Jason was a trial lawyer and antitrust litigator for 25 years, as a former equity partner at McDermott Will & Emery, Vinson & Elkins, and Alston & Bird. Over his career in private practice, he won roughly $3 billion in relief for plaintiff-side clients, saved defendant clients from over $17 billion in potential liability, and represented global companies in massive antitrust MDLs.

SOPHIE GILLIAM

BarentsKrans, NETHERLANDS

Bio

Sophie has over 15 years’ experience acting for claimants and defendants in (pan-EU) cartel damages actions brought before the civil courts in the Netherlands. Many of these cases are financed by third-party funders.

Daniel Oakes

Axinn, USA

Bio

Recognized as a leading U.S. antitrust practitioner, Dan takes a client-centered, analytical approach to defending companies and individuals against a range of Sherman Act Section 1 and Section 2 claims, including cartel, monopolization, no-poach, and other conspiracy allegations, as well as state competition claims. Dan advises clients in criminal investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), has helped persuade authorities to close investigations without taking enforcement action, and assisted clients through the process of securing leniency protection.  Dan has also counseled clients on a wide range of antitrust issues including Section 1 and Section 2 litigation, analysis of potential mergers, business practices, and antitrust compliance. With an ability to pivot with precision when dynamic complexities arise, Dan represents clients across a broad range of industries, including food and beverage, defense, technology, advertising, distribution, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, automobile parts, healthcare, and insurance. He leverages his past work experience as a managing analyst at consulting firm Compass Lexecon to craft legal arguments that are backed by a thorough economic analysis of the competitive landscape of these sectors.

EMIL SZABÓ

Szecskay Attorneys, HUNGARY

Bio

Emil is an associate at Szecskay Attorneys at Law in Hungary, involved in litigation cases across a wide range of legal fields, particularly representing clients in competition law damages claims based on a decision of the European Commission. He was part of the team involved in the cases connected to landmark preliminary reference procedures before the Court of Justice of the European Union that were major steps in the evolution of competition law damages claims in the EU, such as case C-451/18 (Tibor‑Trans) and C-425/22 (MOL).

SESSION COORDINATOR AND MODERATOR

Jonathan Amior

Hausfeld, UK

Bio

Jonathan is an experienced UK litigator with a focus on commercial and competition disputes. He has specialist expertise acting for claimants in funded group claims, including collective proceedings against BigTech and securities litigation on behalf of classes of investors. Jonathan was part of the Hausfeld team which went to trial against Apple in early 2025, alleging claims of over £1.5bn regarding excessive pricing and exclusionary abuses on the App Store, on behalf of a class of c.20m UK consumers. He has a depth of experience in litigation funding matters, including in relation to the the high‑profile ‘PACCAR’ appeal proceedings in which defendants sought to challenge the enforceability of litigation funding agreements.