Paul Hastings Deepens Antitrust Bench With Premier Partner in Washington

Paul Hastings LLP today announced that antitrust lawyer Charles Ramsey has joined the firm as a partner in Washington, D.C., further strengthening the firm’s global Antitrust & Competition practice and broader M&A platform.

Joining from Freshfields, Ramsey advises clients on domestic and international merger control proceedings and brings particular experience overseeing Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) filings for submission to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as well as assessing ex-U.S. merger control filing obligations. He also provides antitrust compliance advice and counseling to clients across industries on pre-closing integration planning and post-closing hold-separate arrangements.

“As the regulatory landscape grows increasingly complex, having a dedicated, top-tier HSR offering for our clients is essential to our elite M&A and PE platform and expanding corporate, cross-border practices,” said Paul Hastings Chair Frank Lopez. “Charles’ arrival strengthens our capabilities in this space, enabling us to provide seamless regulatory guidance across the deal lifecycle and continue to gain market share.”

Prior to practicing at Freshfields, Ramsey served as an attorney advisor at the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, where his work on U.S. merger control enforcement and policy earned him two DOJ Awards of Distinction.

Ramsey’s clients have included Crowdstrike, DSV, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Salesforce. Recent representations include leading the HSR workstreams for Advent and Cinven on the agreed combination of Kone and TK Elevator (TKE) for an enterprise value for TKE of €29.4 billion; Hewlett Packard Enterprise on its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks; and DSV on its €14.3 billion acquisition of Schenker AG from Deutsche Bahn.

“Paul Hastings’ antitrust practice, like the rest of the firm, has impressive momentum in the market, and this is an exciting time for me to join such a distinguished team,” said Ramsey.

“I look forward to using my skills and experience to continue building out the firm’s strong existing capabilities and supporting its continued expansion.”

Paul Hastings’ global Antitrust & Competition practice has experienced remarkable growth, nearly tripling in size over the past four years. Alongside Ramsey, the practice recently added former FTC deputy assistant director of the Mergers I Division Lisa DeMarchi Sleigh, Gail Levine from Mayer Brown and Josh Soven from Paul, Weiss — all in Washington; Salomé Cisnal De Ugarte from King & Spalding in Brussels; 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, and also received three Matter of the Year awards at the 16th Global Competition Review Awards ceremony, which honored the world’s most significant antitrust successes from 2025.

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 the first half of 2026, Paul Hastings ranked No. 11 among global firms for U.S. M&A deals by value, jumping 49 spots from 2023. The firm is also on pace to eclipse its 2025 results, with a total deal value at $198.5 billion for the first six months of 2026.

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.