Overview
Carter Simpson is a partner in the Antitrust & Competition practice at Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Carter’s civil litigation practice focuses on antitrust, privacy, and cybersecurity investigations and litigation.
With over a decade of experience in claims assessment, early and alternative dispute resolution, and high-stakes trial and appellate litigation, Carter advises and represents clients across a range of industries in civil and criminal antitrust investigations, merger challenges, and cases involving antitrust, business torts, RICO, false advertising, deceptive trade practices, data breach, employment and intellectual property claims. She has particular experience in supply chain and data management disputes and in the technology and retail sectors.
Carter maintains an active pro bono practice, which includes regularly partnering with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on policy initiatives and federal litigation. She is a member of the firm’s pro bono committee and co-chair of the talent development committee. Carter also served four years as a D.C. Bar delegate to the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, and she is a past chair of the ABA Young Lawyers Division’s Civil Rights and Social Justice Committee. Following law school, she worked as a judicial law clerk on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
Accolades
- Recommended for Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Defense, Legal 500
- One to Watch, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions: Defense, The Best Lawyers in America
- 40 & Under List Northeast, Benchmark Litigation
- Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll
- E. Randolph Williams Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service
- Vanderbilt Lightfoot, Franklin & White Awards for Best Brief and Best Oral Argument
- Vanderbilt Scholastic Excellence Award for Legal Writing
Education
- Vanderbilt Law School, J.D., 2011
- Vanderbilt Law Review, Vanderbilt Moot Court Board
- Duke University, B.A. (History and English), 2007
Representations
- A media organization, a major U.S. retailer and a financial services company against statutory privacy claims arising from alleged use of pixel and other data management technologies.
- A Japanese manufacturer of electronic components against direct-action and class-action litigation concerning alleged price fixing and market allocation.
- Numerous retailers and electronics and consumer goods manufacturers against putative class actions involving federal and state privacy and consumer laws, as well as against mass arbitration efforts.
- Students and student organizations in ongoing challenge to undergraduate admissions policy and procedures.
- Corporate opt-out and direct-action plaintiffs in several multi-district antitrust cases involving price fixing and bid rigging in the food supply chain.
- A major U.S. infrastructure company in internal, regulatory and congressional investigations stemming from data breach, and against three ensuing putative class actions.
- A major retail grocery chain in private challenge to consummated merger brought under Section 7 of the Clayton Act.
- One of the world’s largest media conglomerates in internal and regulatory investigations stemming from data breach.
- A major European retailer against claims of false advertising and other business torts stemming from entry into U.S. market.
- A state-owned multinational energy company and one of largest U.S. medical device manufacturers in affirmative litigations against former employees for misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of non-compete and non-disclosure agreements.
- A certified class of healthcare networks, schools and restaurants that achieved one of the largest RICO settlements in history against major U.S. food distributor.
Matters may have been completed before joining Paul Hastings.
Engagement & Publications
Speaking Engagements
- “Litigation Trends and Risk Management: VPPA, CIPA, and Other Class Claims,” Privacy + Security Forum – Spring Academy, Speaker (May 9, 2024)
Media Mentions
- Mass arbitration – from advantage to adversity?, Consumer Dispute Resolution, Quoted (March 27, 2024)
- Civil Rights Organizations and Diverse Group of Students of Color File for Intervention in SFFA Vs. University of Texas at Austin, Targeted News Service, Quoted (Dec. 17, 2020)
Publications
- "Recent Private Merger Challenges: Anomaly or Harbinger?", Antitrust, Co-author (Summer 2021)
- "Using Residual Class-Settlement Funds to Improve Access to Civil Justice," Fall 2016 Newsletter, YLD Committee on Civil Rights and Social Justice, American Bar Association (October 2016)
- "Exposing and Mitigating Implicit Biases in the Legal Profession," Spring 2016 Newsletter, YLD Committee on Civil Rights and Social Justice, American Bar Association (May 2016)
- "Magna Carta in 2015: The ABA Celebrates 800 Years of Individual Rights," Fall 2015 Newsletter, YLD Committee on Individual Rights and Responsibilities, American Bar Association (October 2015)
- "Hope-Fulfilling or Effectively Chilling? Reconciling the Hate Crimes Prevention Act with the First Amendment," 64 VAND. L. REV. 271 (2011)