Overview
Based in our Washington, D.C. office, Joshua Soven is a leading antitrust lawyer who represents companies in high-stakes strategic mergers and acquisitions, antitrust litigation and counseling on competition issues. Described by Chambers USA as “extremely knowledgeable, an excellent strategist and a great communicator,” Josh represents a wide range of leading companies before the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, and in the federal courts.
His antitrust experience ranges from high-profile, complex strategic transactions to M&A litigation and defense of clients facing complex multidistrict litigations and class actions.
Josh previously served in leadership and trial counsel roles in both the DOJ’s Antitrust Division and the FTC. He was the chief of the Litigation I Section of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division (now the Healthcare and Consumer Products Section), where he directed all the division’s investigations and litigation challenges in the health insurance, hospital, consumer products, packaging, beer and dairy sectors. In addition, he served as a trial attorney in the division’s Networks and Technologies Section, where he directed investigations in the software, electronic payment systems and financial services fields. Josh was also an attorney advisor to FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras.
He has led the antitrust teams that obtained government approval for numerous prominent companies in a variety of industries, including in the technology, healthcare, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, manufacturing, energy, industrials, hospitality, consumer services and entertainment industries.
Josh is consistently named among the nation’s top antitrust attorneys by Chambers USA in the Antitrust — District of Columbia category. Clients commented that he “brings deep prior experience in senior positions at both the FTC and DOJ to his highly regarded antitrust practice.” He is regularly listed as a leading antitrust lawyer by Best Lawyers. Josh was also recommended by Legal 500 in the Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Defense and Antitrust: Merger Control categories and was recognized as Washington Magazine’s Top Lawyer.
Josh is currently an editor of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Magazine. He has spoken at many conferences on antitrust enforcement issues and served as a lecturer at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he co-taught a course on strategy and competition policy in the healthcare sector.
Josh clerked for the Honorable Robert G. Doumar of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Accolades
- Chambers USA, D.C. Antitrust (2013-2025)
- The Legal 500, Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Defense
- The Legal 500, Antitrust: Merger Control categories
- Best Lawyers, Leading antitrust lawyer
- Washington Magazine, Top Lawyer
Education
- University of Virginia School of Law, J.D.
- University of Pennsylvania, B.A. (summa cum laude)
Representations
Transactions
- IBM in its $6.4 billion acquisition of HashiCorp and its $4.6 billion acquisition of Apptio.
- WWE in its $21 billion sale to Endeavor Group Holdings.
- Deutsche Telekom in connection with T-Mobile’s successful merger with Sprint, which was selected by Global Competition Review as the 2020 “Competition Matter of the Year”.
- GSK plc, a U.K.-based global pharmaceutical company, in its $2 billion acquisition of BELLUS Health, a Canada-based biopharmaceutical company.
- Atrium Health in its multibillion-dollar merger with Advocate Health. The transaction created the third-largest nonprofit health system in the nation.
- LinkedIn in its $26 billion sale to Microsoft.
- Marriott in its $13 billion acquisition of Starwood.
Healthcare/Pharmaceutical
- Marathon Health in its acquisition of Everside Health.
- GSK plc, a U.K.-based global pharmaceutical company, in its $2 billion acquisition of BELLUS Health, a Canada-based biopharmaceutical company.
- Merck in its $10.8 billion acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences.
- Albireo Pharma in its $1 billion sale to Ipsen.
- Atrium Health in its multibillion-dollar merger with Advocate Health. The transaction created the third-largest nonprofit health system in the nation.
- St. Jude Medical in its $25 billion sale to Abbott Laboratories.
- LogicBio® Therapeutics in its sale to Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease (Alexion).
- Tenet Healthcare in its $2 billion acquisition of United Surgical Partners International.
Technology/Telecommunications
- Deutsche Telekom in the $26 billion purchase of Sprint by DT’s subsidiary, T-Mobile.
- IBM in its $6.4 billion acquisition of HashiCorp and its $4.6 billion acquisition of Apptio.
- LinkedIn in its $26 billion sale to Microsoft.
- Francisco Partners in the sale of its subsidiary Trellis Rx to CPS Solution.
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the sale of its information technology services business to Computer Sciences Corporation and its sale of mobile device patents to Qualcomm.
- AECOM in its $6 billion acquisition of URS.
- MuleSoft in its $6 billion sale to Salesforce.
- Fiserv in its $690 million purchase of Elan Financial Services.
Manufacturing/Energy/Industrials
- WestRock in its $20 billion combination with Smurfit Kappa.
- HEICO Corporation in its $2 billion acquisition of Wencor Group.
- Resolute Forest Products in its $4 billion sale to Domtar Corporation.
- Southern Power in its $8 billion acquisition of AGL Resources.
- Southern Power in its $2 billion joint venture with Kinder Morgan.
Hospitality/Consumer Services/Entertainment
- Marriott in its $13 billion acquisition of Starwood.
- WWE in its $21 billion sale to Endeavor Group Holdings.
- Grubhub in its $7.3 billion sale to Just Eat Takeaway.
Matters may have been completed before joining Paul Hastings.