Overview
Gail Levine is a partner in the Paul Hastings Antitrust & Competition practice and is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. A trusted advisor in business-critical mergers or acquisitions with antitrust issues, Gail represents clients such as Fortune 500 companies and private equity firms and handles their merger control matters, represents them in investigations and counsels them on antitrust risk. She also advises small and growing tech start-ups on a wide variety of issues as they scale, and she represents high-tech companies in Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigations into data privacy and security issues.
Gail was a deputy director in the Bureau of Competition of the FTC, serving under Chairman Joseph Simons and acting Chairwoman Rebecca Slaughter. In this role, she supervised over 100 lawyers in five divisions, handling all aspects of antitrust review. Gail oversaw a wide variety of merger reviews, anticompetitive conduct investigations and antitrust litigation, particularly in areas such as high-tech, pharmaceuticals, biotech and healthcare. She helped establish the new Technology Enforcement Division, which investigates anticompetitive conduct in digital markets.
Previously, Gail spent more than a decade in-house. She was one of Uber’s top lawyers, working as head of U.S. regulatory affairs and as director for competition, where she counseled senior business and legal executives on emerging competition and regulatory issues. She also served as vice president and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications, where she handled antitrust and IP issues.
Prior to her tenure in-house, Gail was an attorney advisor to former FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, advising on antitrust and IP matters. She was a significant contributor to the FTC’s first major report on IP and innovation and co-authored many other FTC reports. Earlier in her career, Gail was a trial attorney with the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
An active community member, Gail has held several leadership roles in the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law. She has previously served on the ABA Antitrust Section’s Council, its governing board; the ABA Presidential Transition Task Force; the ABA Presidential Task Force on Pleading Standards; and as a vice chair of several committees, including the committee dedicated to promoting women in antitrust. Additionally, she is a sought-after speaker and writer on antitrust and IP issues.
Accolades
- FTC Janet Steiger Award for outstanding contributions to Chairman’s 21st Century Hearings Team (2019)
- FTC Janet Steiger Award for exception effort on FTC healthcare hearings and report (2004)
- FTC Outstanding Team Effort Award for outstanding work on FTC’s IP hearings and report (2003)
Education
- Harvard Law School, J.D. (magna cum laude) (Editor, Harvard Law Review)
- University of Texas, B.A. (summa cum laude) (Phi Beta Kappa; Plan II Honors Program; Outstanding Student Finalist; Dean’s Distinguished Graduate)
Representations
- Handling all aspects of antitrust M&A reviews, including analysis that starts before the deal is even signed — evaluating antitrust risks of potential deals, advising senior leadership on antitrust risks and how to mitigate them, counseling on deal sequencing and more.
- Counseling clients on antitrust questions critical to their business, including questions about how to minimize the risk that strong business moves today will draw antitrust litigation in the future, how to train workforces to avoid antitrust violations and more.
- Secured the closing of FTC investigation into a Fortune Global 500 client’s digital practices; FTC investigation had followed a New York Times article on such practices.
- Advocacy for investors and trade groups, through amicus briefs and FTC advocacy papers.
- Defending clients in antitrust and other FTC investigations, including responding to civil investigative demands, building defenses and advising on negotiating settlements.
- Advising investors on antitrust issues that can move the market, such as analyzing likelihood of whether the antitrust authorities will challenge a particular deal, whether the courts will agree with the agencies’ positions and what the market impact of an interim order will be.
While at the FTC:
- Supervised FTC challenge to a next-generation gene-sequencing firm’s plan to acquire an alleged nascent competitor (Illumina/PacBio).
- Oversaw FTC’s action against a pharmaceutical firm and its corporate leadership for allegedly using anticompetitive tactics to shield its drug from price competition (FTC v. Vyera).
- Supervised the FTC’s actions against drug companies that allegedly used an anticompetitive product-hopping scheme to thwart competition with their lucrative opioid replacement therapy drug. The companies paid $60 million to settle the charges, which has been refunded to consumers.
- Helped establish, and supervised, the FTC’s Technology Enforcement Division, which investigates anticompetitive conduct in digital technology markets.
- Oversaw the FTC’s successful challenge to Peabody/Arch Coal, a proposed joint venture in the coal industry.
Engagement & Publications
- Speaker, “Non-Competes Across Antitrust, Labor, and Trade Secret Law: Where Do We Stand?” American Bar Association, Jan. 14, 2026
- Author, “Deal Lawyers: New State Notification Requirements for Mergers and Acquisitions,” Deal Lawyers, Oct. 16, 2025
- Author, “FTC Imposes Significant Gun-Jumping Penalty for Unlawful Pre-Merger Coordination Among Crude Oil Producers,” Compliance & Enforcement, Feb. 4, 2025
- Speaker, “IP & Antitrust with the FTC,” NYIPLA, Nov. 7, 2024
- Speaker, “Contracting for Trade Secret Protection in the Post Non-Compete Era,” Tech Talks Podcast, June 11, 2024
- Author, “FTCs Proposed HSR Changes Will Complicate Merger Filings,” Law360, Aug. 9, 2023
- Speaker, “The Internet of Things, Standard Essential Patent Pools, and the FTC’s Section 5 Authority,” ABA SciTech, July 12, 2023
- Speaker, “A New Era for Competition Enforcement and Policy?” Competition Policy International, Oct. 19, 2022
- Speaker, “2022 Hal White Antitrust Conference,” Bates White Economic Consulting, June 23, 2022
- Speaker, “FTC/DOJ Workshop on Promoting Competition in Labor Markets,” The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, Dec. 6, 2021
Involvement
- American Bar Association, Section of Antitrust Law: Vice Chair, Women.Connected (2020-25); Member, Council (2013-16); Member, Long Range Planning Committee (2020-present; 2013-14); Member, Nominating Committee (2011); Co-Chair, Communications & Digital Technologies Industry Committee (2009-11); Vice Chair, Computer & Internet Committee (2001-09)
- ABA Presidential Transition Task Force: Advisor on competition, innovation and consumer protection policy (2012-13)
- ABA Presidential Task Force on Pleading Standards (2010-11)