Since 1996, Ilene Knable Gotts has dedicated her legal career to the antitrust law practice area. Currently a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City, Gotts previously worked as a staff attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureaus of Competition and Consumer Protection. Additionally, Gotts has had the honor of holding several leadership positions, which include serving on the American Bar Association’s Board of Governors from 2015 to 2018 and as the chair of the Antitrust Law section from 2009 to 2010.
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2012 for Antitrust Law, Gotts is currently being honored as “Lawyer of the Year” for the same practice area in New York City for 2024.
Of her legal career and recent recognition, Gotts stated: “I am not sure that there is any one recent accomplishment that I would point to. I have been fortunate to work with many lawyers in my practice area on deals with good results for the last several years, including this year. For instance, in the past year, I have had the opportunity to coordinate regulatory filings globally in a number of large deals involving multinational companies. I wake up every morning loving what I do, working with my colleagues, clients, co-counsel and economists on exciting transactions, transactions that often transform businesses and, sometimes, the industry in which they participate. I enjoy the challenge and delivering results.
“The ability to be able to juggle many things at a high level at the same time—working on multiple deals that are at various points of the review process and being able to jump into the middle of a business negotiations or other major corporate deliberations on short notice. Also, the ability to work with clients and colleagues collaboratively to solve problems and overcome challenges. As mentioned above, it is important to stay on top of the law and latest developments. Finally, beyond client matters, participating in professional associations and mentoring younger attorneys are rewarding opportunities to contribute to the profession.”
With nearly 40 years of legal experience, Gotts’ primary focus is on matters specifically related to mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, with well over 200 articles published on antitrust-based topics to date, Gotts has also served as the editor of the ABA’s Merger Review Process book, Law Business Research’s Private Competition Enforcement Review and Law Business Research’s Merger Control Review.
“After almost four decades of practice, I can think of several mergers that I view as ’memorable’ for different reasons. Perhaps the ones I view as the most noteworthy are those in which I was not initially involved but brought in at a later stage in order to achieve a resolution that permitted the deal to happen. Examples of this would be General Mills/Diageo, Nestlé/Dreyer’s, and United Health Group/DaVita. Another category would be a deal such as AT&T/SBC, which FCC Chairman Reed Hundt declared ‘unthinkable’ shortly before we announced the transaction. I love working on deals that involve consumer products and services. Recently, I worked on the Creative Artists Agency/ICM deal, a transaction that involved two talent agency firms. These markets often are very dynamic and disruptive and require careful analysis of many factors, including market definition, competition, entry, expansion and innovation,” concluded Gotts.
