The High-Powered Lawyers Fighting Over AT&T’s Future
Clockwise from top left: Craig Conrath, Judge Richard Leon, Makan Delrahim, Christine Varney, Daniel Petrocelli.
Illustration: Cheryl Cook for BloombergAT&T Inc.’s fight to save its proposed acquisition of Time Warner Inc. moves to the federal courthouse in Washington Thursday, where a cast of lawyers for the companies and the government will face off for the first time before U.S. District Judge Richard Leon.
The stakes are high and the personalities high-powered. President Donald Trump’s new antitrust chief — a former lobbyist and Capitol Hill staffer — upended expectations the deal would sail through when he sued to block the merger just two months into his new job. Then there’s the defense lawyer from Hollywood who represented former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling; the woman who led the antitrust division under President Barack Obama and is now defending Time Warner; and a career Justice Department litigator fresh off a court victory blocking a merger between two of the biggest U.S. health insurers. Overseeing it all is Leon, a maverick known for infusing drama into his courtroom.