Amanda Wait

Partner

Clients praise Amanda for "advising the client, addressing issues, and melding business objectives with legal realities."

— Chambers USA

Emailamanda.wait@dlapiper.com

Call+1 202 799 4110

Washington, DC

About

Areas of FocusAntitrust and Competition Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions White Collar and Corporate Crime Energy and Natural Resources Life Sciences Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations Industrials Regulatory and Government Affairs Healthcare Antitrust

Bar admissionsDistrict of Columbia

EXPERIENCE

Served as trial counsel to a French merchant firm in the DOJ challenge of the sale of a cane sugar refining company's refinery to an agriculture company and obtaining a complete win at the district court enabling the successful completion of the acquisition.

Select healthcare experience:

Successfully advised a major health system in its strategic combination in review by the Federal Trade Commission; after considering potential horizontal overlap, cross-market theories, and labor market impacts, the FTC closed its investigation without action.
Represented a health technology company as a non-party witness in the DOJ's investigation and litigation challenge of the proposed acquisition of the health technology company by a healthcare services company’s subsidiary and successfully advocated to remove the client from the trial witness list and prevented all client documents from becoming public trial exhibits.
Served as counsel to a not-for-profit, faith-based healthcare system in the FTC investigation and litigation of its proposed acquisition of a hospital from a healthcare company.
Obtained antitrust clearance after an FTC investigation for a strategic laboratory outsourcing arrangement for a major Texas hospital system.

Select energy experience:

Advised a major US energy company in a vertical acquisition that received a second request from the Federal Trade Commission.
Negotiated a consent decree for an energy corporation after a DOJ investigation into alleged premature exercise of control raising novel theories of antitrust violations under the HSR Act.
Advised a major energy company before the FTC in multiple strategic refining divestiture transactions and obtained early termination of the HSR waiting period in each to enable the client to move forward with extensive integration process relating to the sale
Advised a major energy company in multiple FTC investigations, including into another energy company's proposed acquisition of a company that distributes and markets petroleum products.

Select retail and consumer products experience:

Developed and led the global merger clearance strategy for a transportation industry manufacturer in a strategic, multi-billion euro transaction; by anticipating the likely questions, the client obtained clearance during the initial review periods in all reviewing jurisdictions.
Developed and led the strategy to obtain merger clearance in four jurisdictions for a global packaging company in a strategic transaction valued in excess of US$1 billion and the deal cleared in all reviewing jurisdictions after the initial advocacy without issuance of second request or equivalent in foreign jurisdictions.
Successfully obtained premerger clearance for an international retailer's strategic acquisition to expand product offerings into an adjacent product and service areas in a deal valued in excess of US$500 million.
Negotiated a settlement with the FTC for strategic divestitures in order to obtain clearance after a second request for one of the world's largest retail supermarket chains.
Advised a leading provider of funeral and cemetery services in its US$1.4 billion strategic merger reviewed by the FTC and several state attorneys general where the reviewing agencies cleared the transaction with divestitures after a second request.
Advised a music corporation in its US$1.9 billion acquisition of the recorded music business of another music company; after a second request and an extensive investigation, the FTC voted to close its investigation without requiring divestitures or other remedies.
Served as trial counsel to a computer company in a patent infringement case that went to full trial on the merits on antitrust counterclaims.
Served as counsel to a major airline before the DOJ in its successful acquisition of another airline; following a second request and extensive investigation, the DOJ closed its investigation without requiring any divestitures or other remedies.
Served as trial counsel to the FTC in its challenge to the proposed merger of a supermarket chain and a producer of natural and organic food distributed through partnerships in the US.

Education

J.D., College of William & Mary
Associate articles editor, William & Mary Law Review
Articles editor, Environmental Law & Policy Review

B.A., University of Cincinnati
summa cum laude

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Publications and media

Seminars

Panelist, "Antitrust leadership," Georgetown University Law Center, March 2023

Media Mentions

Memberships and Affiliations

Vice-Chair, Finance 8, Risk Committee Trustee for the University of Cincinnati Foundation, 2019-present
Trustee, Kautz-Uible Economics Institute for the University of Cincinnati, 2016-present
Chair, Section Influence Task Force; Section Leadership; and Section of Antitrust Law; American Bar Association, 2007-present
Member, MLex Advisory Board, 2018-2020
Co-Founder, The Grapevine, a former organization that was the first networking group for women competition and consumer protection professionals in Washington, DC