Paul Hastings Continues Antitrust Build With Elite Litigator

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Paul Hastings LLP announced today the addition of premier antitrust lawyer Gail F. Levine as a partner in Washington, D.C.

Joining from Mayer Brown, where she co-led the firm’s Antitrust & Competition practice, Levine advises clients, including Fortune 500 companies and PE firms, on all aspects of antitrust review and risk and defends them in antitrust and other government investigations.

Prior to entering private practice, Levine served as a deputy director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, where she led more than 100 team members across five divisions and handled a wide variety of merger reviews, anticompetitive conduct investigations and antitrust litigation, particularly in the technology, pharmaceuticals, biotech and healthcare sectors. She previously worked in-house for Uber and Verizon Communications, advising senior executives on regulatory, competition, antitrust and IP matters.

Levine’s addition continues the strong momentum of Paul Hastings’ global Antitrust & Competition practice, which has now added four premier partners in the past year in Washington, D.C., London and California, and further strengthens the firm’s leading M&A platform, which has added 20 partners over the past two years.  

Paul Hastings is the No. 1 firm for U.S. deal value growth over the past two years according to Bloomberg, with a 2025 total deal value 15 times higher than the 2023 total — an increase to $272 billion from $18 billion. The firm’s average deal value climbed to $1.7 billion — seven times higher than 2023 ($254 million). In 2025, Paul Hastings ranked No. 12 among global firms for U.S. M&A deals by value, jumping 48 spots from 2023, and 10 of the more than 200 deals the firm closed were valued between $5 billion and $20 billion-plus. Additionally, the firm’s shareholder activism defense practice ranked No. 2 for the second year in a row in FactSet’s 2025 Year-End Shareholder Activism Defense league tables.

“Gail’s tremendous antitrust experience within and alongside the federal government, strong relationships and stellar reputation further our strategic objective to provide clients with unmatched intellectual capital and deliver best-in-market counsel on complex regulatory issues and high-stakes transactions,” said firm Chair Frank Lopez. “Enhancing our Antitrust & Competition practice is a key priority for the firm’s growth strategy. Premier antitrust talent is essential to winning and executing M&A and PE mandates and Gail has the experience and reputation to continue our build of both a premier destination antitrust practice and M&A platform.”

Paul Hastings’ global Antitrust & Competition practice has experienced remarkable growth, with the team nearly tripling in size over the past four years. In addition to Levine, the practice recently welcomed Josh Soven from Paul Weiss, also in Washington, D.C., Sally Evans from Kirkland in London and Stephen McIntyre in Los Angeles. The practice was recently recognized by Global Competition Review in the 2026 GCR 100, the publication’s annual list of the top antitrust and competition practices worldwide.

“I’m excited to join Paul Hastings and work alongside such a talented team,” said Levine. “The firm’s strategic approach helps clients navigate complex regulatory and transactional landscapes with confidence. I look forward to helping clients capitalize on various regulatory environments and delivering solutions that drive results.”

About Paul Hastings
With widely recognized elite teams across 17 core practices, Paul Hastings is a premier law firm with a culture of excellence focused on providing intellectual capital and superior execution globally to the world’s leading investment banks, asset managers and corporations.