Daniel C. Hedlund

Daniel C. Hedlund is a member of Gustafson Gluek PLLC.  He is a graduate of Carleton College (B.A. 1989) and is a cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School (J.D. 1995).  He was a Note and Comment Editor and member of the Minnesota Journal of Global Trade from 1993-1995 and a recipient of the Federal Bar Association’s John T. Stewart, Jr. Memorial Fund Writing Award (1994).

Mr. Hedlund served as a law clerk to the Honorable Gary L. Crippen, Minnesota Court of Appeals (1997) and to the Honorable Dolores C. Orey, Fourth Judicial District of Minnesota (1995-1996).

Mr. Hedlund has practiced in the areas of antitrust, securities fraud, and consumer protection since 1997.  He is admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and in Minnesota State Court.  Mr. Hedlund is a member of the Federal, American, Minnesota, and Hennepin County Bar associations.  Mr. Hedlund is active in the Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (FBA), currently serving as Co-Vice President for the Eighth Circuit.  He has previously served in several roles for the Minnesota Chapter including: Co-Vice President, Legal Education; Co-Vice President, Special Events; Co-Vice President, Monthly Meetings; Secretary; and Liaison between the FBA and the Minnesota State Bar Association.  He recently served as Chairman for the Antitrust Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA), Secretary for the MSBA Consumer Litigation Section, and is past President of the Committee to Support Antitrust Laws.

In addition to presenting at CLEs, Dan has testified multiple times before the Minnesota legislature on competition law, and before the Federal Rules Committee.  He is a co-author of the “Plaintiff Overview” in Private Antitrust Litigation 2015 – Getting the Deal Through, and a contributor to Concurrent Antitrust Criminal and Civil Procedure 2013 – American Bar Association.

In 2013-2018, he was designated by Law & Politics magazine as a Minnesota “Super Lawyer,” in the field of antitrust law.  “Super Lawyer” selection results from peer nominations, a “blue ribbon” panel review process and independent research on the candidates; no more than 5% of lawyers in Minnesota are selected as “Super Lawyers.”  He was also ranked in the Top 100 MN Super Lawyers in 2015, 2017 and 2018.  Mr. Hedlund has served as a volunteer attorney for the Minnesota Federal Bar Association’s Federal Pro Se Project and is the recipient of the Minnesota District Court’s Distinguished Pro Bono Service Award in 2011.

Mr. Hedlund is currently or has been actively involved in the representation of plaintiffs and classes in numerous cases, including: In re Pork Antitrust Litig. (Minn.) (Consumer Indirect Plaintiffs’ Interim Co-Lead Counsel); In re Dealer Management Systems Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Ill.) (Member-Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee); In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Ill.) (Co-Lead Counsel—Commercial and Institutional Indirect Purchaser Class); Kleen Prods. v. Intl. Paper (Containerboard Antitrust Litig.) (N.D. Ill.) (Discovery Team Co-Leader); Bhatia v. 3M Co. (D. Minn.) (Co-Lead Counsel); In re CenturyLink Sales Practices and Securities Litig. (D. Minn.) (Executive Committee Chair); Precision Assocs., Inc. v. Panalpina World Transport (Holding) Ltd. (E.D.N.Y.) (Co-Lead Counsel); The Shane Group, Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (E.D. Mich.) (Co-Lead Counsel); In re Capacitors Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.); In re Resistors Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.); In re Vitamin C Antitrust Litig. (E.D.N.Y.) (Co-Lead Counsel-Indirect Purchaser Classes); In re Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Ala.) (Member-Damages Committee); In re Packaged Seafood Antitrust Litig. (S.D. Cal.); In re DRAM Antitrust Litig. (Co-Lead Counsel–multiple federal and state court indirect purchaser class actions); In re Flash Memory Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.); In re Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litig. (E.D. Pa.); In re TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.); In re Refrigerant Compressors Antirust Litig. (E.D. Mi.); In re SIGG Switzerland (USA), Inc. Aluminum Bottles Marketing and Sales Practices Litig. (W.D. Ky.); In re Air Cargo Shipping Services Antitrust Litig. (E.D.N.Y.); In re St. Paul Travelers Securities Litig. II (D. Minn.); In re Digital Music Antitrust (S.D.N.Y.); In re OSB Antitrust Litig. (E.D. Pa.); In re Funeral Consumers Antitrust Litig. (S.D. Tex.); McIntosh v. Monsanto Co. (E.D. Mo.); In re AOL Time Warner Securities Litig. (S.D.N.Y.) (Prior Firm Co-Lead Counsel); In re Commercial Tissue Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Fla.); In re Universal Service Fund Telephone Billing Practices Litig. (D. Kan.); In re Green Tree Financial Stock Litig. (D. Minn.) (Prior Firm Co-lead Counsel); In re NASDAQ Market-Makers Antitrust Litig. (S.D.N.Y.); In re Polypropylene Carpet Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Ga.); In re Buffets, Inc. Securities Litig. (D. Minn.); In re Mercedes Benz Antitrust Litig. (D.N.J.); In re Xcel Energy, Inc. Securities Litig. (D. Minn.); In re Blue Cross Subscriber Litig. (D. Minn.); In re MSG Antitrust Litig. (D. Minn.); In re Mercury Finance Co. Securities Litig. (N.D. Ill.); In re Olympic Financial Securities Litig. (D. Minn.); and In re Flat Glass Antitrust Litig. (W.D. Pa.).

 

Dean Harvey represents individuals and companies in antitrust, business tort, employment, and intellectual property litigation. He has obtained remedies that include reimbursing purchasers who have overpaid for price-fixed products; preventing monopolists from stifling innovation and eliminating competition; and obtaining damages for businesses, inventors, and copyright owners.  He has extensive experience representing employees asserting antitrust claims, including: a class of high-tech workers against Google, Apple, Intel and other tech giants; a class of doctors against Duke University; a proposed class of rail equipment workers against Wabtec and Knorr; and proposed classes of fast-food workers against franchisors and franchisees.  He also represented consumers in the firm’s litigation against generic drug makers for blocking access to generic versions of the brand name drug Cipro.  Dean was previously with the Antitrust Division of the DOJ, and was a Law Clerk to the Honorable James V. Selna of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Dean’s awards include: ABA top 40 young lawyers in the country (2017), California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (2016), finalist for AAI’s annual “Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement By A Young Lawyer.” (2015); and William E. Swope Antitrust Writing Award for “Anticompetitive Social Norms as Antitrust Violations” (California Law Review, 2006). He is Co-Chair of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law, Competition Torts Committee, and has served as a member of the Law360 Competition Editorial Advisory Board.

 

Lin Chan represents consumers, small businesses, and employees in class actions involving antitrust, fraud, discrimination, and wage theft. Lin has represented California consumers and third party payors of Cipro in a class action charging that brand name and generic prescription drug manufacturers conspired to restrain competition in the sale of Bayer’s blockbuster antibiotic drug Cipro. Total settlements in the case reached $399 million. Lin has also represented consumers in a class action filed against lithium ion battery manufacturers for conspiring to fix the prices of lithium ion batteries, as well as direct purchasers of titanium dioxide against titanium dioxide manufacturers for conspiring to fix prices. In 2017, Lin won the prestigious award for “Outstanding Antitrust Achievement by a Young Lawyer” from the American Antitrust Institute for her work on the Cipro drug antitrust cases, as well as sharing Lieff Cabraser’s team award from the AAI for “Outstanding Private Practice Antitrust Achievement” for their work on the Cipro case. Lin chairs the Antitrust and Business Regulation Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco and serves as Secretary of the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws. She previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals from 2007 to 2008. While at Stanford, Lin was the Editor-in-Chief of the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Jorge L. Contreras is a Professor of Law at the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, USA). Before entering academia, Professor Contreras was a partner at the international law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where he practiced transactional and IP law in Boston, London and Washington DC. His research focuses, among other things, on the development of technical standards and the use, dissemination and ownership of scientific data generated. He is the author of more than 100 scholarly articles and chapters which have appeared in scientific, legal and policy journals including Science, Nature, Georgetown Law Journal, Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, Antitrust Law Journal and Telecommunications Policy. He is the editor of five books relating to technology law and technical standards, including the Cambridge Handbook of Technical Standardization Law, 2 vols. (2017, 2019 forthcoming). He has been quoted in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Economist, Washington Post, Korea Times, has been a guest on NPR, BBC and various televised broadcasts, and his work has been cited by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, European Commission and courts in the U.S. and Europe. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Interdisciplinary Division of the American Bar Association’s Section of Science & Technology Law, and as a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Council of Councils and the IPR Policy Committee of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). He has previously served as Co-Chair of the National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists, and as a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee on IP Management in Standard-Setting Processes. He is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School (JD) and Rice University (BSEE, BA).

Nancy Rose is the Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where her teaching and research focus on industrial organization, competition policy, and the economics of regulation. She served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2014–2016, and directed the NBER program in Industrial Organization from 1991-2014. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was named the 2018 Distinguished Fellow of the Industrial Organization Society. Her research includes analyses of economic regulation, firm behavior, labor rent-sharing and determinants of executive pay, and merger policy. Her accomplishments have been recognized by numerous fellowships over her career, and professional service that includes terms as Vice President and Executive Committee member of the American Economic Association, as well as on corporate and non-profit boards.

Kimberly A. Justice, a partner at Freed Kanner London & Millen LLC, is a respected litigator and experienced trial lawyer who has dedicated her career to obtaining justice for those harmed by corporate fraud. She focuses her practice on antitrust and securities fraud litigation. Kimberly has extensive experience in all aspects of complex litigation from investigating and developing an initial case theory, to formulating and managing litigation strategy, to conducting discovery, to trial.

Kimberly possesses a wealth of valuable experience, having served as a federal antitrust prosecutor for nearly a decade where she led teams of trial attorneys and law enforcement agents who investigated and prosecuted domestic and international cartel activity, including in the following industries: graphite electrodes, carbon products, ocean shipping and benchmark interest rates (LIBOR). Prior to joining the Firm, Kimberly was co-chair of the antitrust practice group at Kessler Topaz Meltzer Check LLP.

Kimberly has secured sizeable recoveries on behalf of investors in several high-profile securities fraud cases. Kimberly also led the trial team that obtained a jury verdict in favor of investors in the Longtop securities class action litigation, among just a handful of securities cases to be tried to jury verdict. Kimberly currently serves as lead or co-lead counsel in several nationwide securities fraud and antitrust class actions. Most recently, Kimberly was appointed as Co-Lead Counsel in In re: Chicago Board of Options Exchange Volatility Index Manipulation Antitrust Litigation. Kimberly also serves on the Plaintiff Steering Committees in In re: Local TV Advertising Antitrust Litigation, In re: Liquid Aluminum Sulfate Antitrust Litigation and In re: German Automotive Manufacturers Antitrust Litigation.

Upon graduating from law school, Ms. Justice served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable William H. Yohn, Jr. (retired) of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Justice frequently lectures and serves on discussion panels concerning antitrust and securities litigation matters and currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the American Antitrust Institute and as an Advisory Council Member for The Duke Conferences: Bench-Bar-Academy Distinguished Lawyers’ Series.

Dan Drachler has over 30 years’ experience representing the interests of consumers, businesses, Native American tribes, and state and local governments in a wide range of matters. Mr. Drachler has held leadership positions in class action litigation and matters of public policy, both as an attorney and counselor in private practice as well as on behalf of state and local governments. Mr. Drachler was the recipient of the 2017 American Antitrust Institute’s Enforcement Award for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice. In 2016, Mr. Drachler received the CLAY Award as an Attorney of the Year in Antitrust for his work on the groundbreaking decision of the California Supreme Court in In re Cipro Cases I and II (Cal. 2015).

As Chief Deputy Attorney General of the State of New York, Mr. Drachler supervised and coordinated all legal matters for the 450 attorneys in the Department of Law throughout New York State. He also served as New York’s representative to the National Association of Attorneys General, was primary liaison with the Office of the Governor of NY, negotiated and resolved significant and sensitive cases, and supervised senior management.

Mr. Drachler has served in court-appointed leadership roles in numerous antitrust, RICO and consumer class actions over the past 20 years. Currently, Mr. Drachler serves as a member of the Tribal Leadership Committees in In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation (MDL-2804 N.D. Ohio), and in In Re: Juul Labs, Inc., Marketing, Sales Practices, and Product Liability Litigation (MDL-2913 N.D. Cal.). He was also appointed Co-Lead Counsel in In re Cipro Cases I and II, JCCP Nos. 4154 and 4220 (Cal. Super.). In describing the work of Mr. Drachler and his Co-Lead Counsel the Court said “I think everything about this case is extraordinary. · And in particular, the result, and the tenacity of the plaintiffs’ attorneys was extraordinary…. I think the plaintiffs’ attorneys did an extraordinary job.” (Hon. Ronald L. Styn, In re Cipro Cases I and II, April 21, 2017 Transcript of Proceedings). The Cipro cases settled for nearly $400 million on behalf of California third-party payors and consumers.

William S. Comanor is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and also Professor of Health Policy and Management at UCLA where he serves as Director of the Research Program on Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy. Dr. Comanor received his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1964, and was on the faculties of both Harvard and Stanford Universities before joining the faculty of the University of California in 1975.

Dr. Comanor served as an economist at both federal antitrust enforcement agencies.  In 1965 and 1966, he was Special Economic Assistant to the head of the Antitrust Division in the US Department of Justice, and from 1978 to 1980 was Chief Economist and Director of the Bureau of Economics at the US Federal Trade Commission.

During his professional career, Dr. Comanor has studied, lectured, written, and consulted on many issues dealing with antitrust economics, and regularly teaches a course on that subject.  He has also testified on antitrust matters before Congressional committees and in courtrooms throughout the United States.  In 2003, he received the Distinguished Fellow Award from the Industrial Organization Society.  That award is given annually in recognition of excellence in Research, Education and Professional Leadership in the field of Industrial Organization, which encompasses Antitrust Economics.