Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft hires ex-FTC attorney for antitrust practice

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP said on Monday that it hired former U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) attorney Bilal Sayyed to strengthen the law firm&rsquo-s antitrust practice.

Sayyed, who will be joining Cadwalader in Washington from law firm McDermott Will & Emery, has advised corporate clients being reviewed by the FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on mergers, civil and criminal antitrust matters.

Sayyed is also an expert in representing investment funds on Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act compliance matters, Cadwalader said.

Compliance with the HSR Act has received heightened attention from government regulators amid the rise in shareholder activism.

HSR is a 40-year-old U.S. law that exempts investors who buy up to 10 percent of a company&rsquo-s voting securities from disclosing purchases made only for passive investment purposes.

Several activist hedge funds over the last few years have been sued by the government for HSR violations.