Renata Hesse

Litigation; Criminal Antitrust; Antitrust; Intellectual Property & Technology Litigation; Intellectual Property & Technology Transactions; Mergers & Acquisitions; Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Renata B. Hesse is resident in both S&C’s Washington, D.C. and Palo Alto offices, and is Co-Head of the Firm’s Antitrust Group. Her practice focuses on antitrust counseling, cartels and merger clearance. She is frequently recognized as a leading and influential antitrust lawyer, with a particular emphasis on the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property matters in high-tech industries. In addition to her work on civil antitrust matters, she also has an active practice involving criminal antitrust investigations, including advising clients on no-poach agreements and other wage-fixing and labor market investigations. She is Chair of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section and is a frequent speaker at antitrust and legal forums. Renata joined S&C after serving at the DOJ Antitrust Division for more than 15 years, during which she led the division twice as Acting Assistant Attorney General and had oversight of all of the Division’s civil and criminal work as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General. Her practice focuses on providing companies with strategic advice across the full range of antitrust matters. Over the last two decades, she has participated in several significant and high-profile antitrust litigations, including the landmark U.S. v. Microsoft case, AT&T’s abandoned acquisition of T-Mobile, and the government’s successful challenges of the Anthem/Cigna and Aetna/Humana transactions. Renata also represented Argos USA LLC, the U.S. subsidiary of Colombia-based Cementos Argos, S.A., in favorably resolving a criminal antitrust investigation by the DOJ and Volkswagen in a DOJ investigation into four automakers that had sided with California in its dispute with the federal government over reducing climate-warming vehicle pollution. Ultimately, the DOJ dropped its investigation, finding that the companies had violated no laws. Whether working with clients in the litigation or investigation context, Renata is known as a thought-leader and valued for her practical, strategic advice.

She is Chair-Elect of the American Bar Association's Antitrust Section.

UC Berkeley School of Law (J.D., 1990); Wellesley College (B.A., 1986)