Lauren Norris Donahue is a partner in the firm's Antitrust, Competition, and Trade Regulation and White Collar Defense and Investigations practice groups. She advises client on all aspects of antitrust law, including government enforcement, complex commercial litigation, domestic and international internal investigations, mergers and acquisitions, and antitrust compliance.
Lauren also advises clients on a wide array of antitrust and competition issues, including the antitrust aspects of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures. Lauren has helped guide the firm's clients through US and international merger clearance and advises on a number of antitrust issues related to both horizontal and vertical mergers, gun-jumping, and pre-merger due diligence and integration planning.
Lauren’s practice includes counseling clients on antitrust compliance to help companies mitigate antitrust risks. She has represented US and multinational corporations in the establishment and maintenance of antitrust compliance and audit programs, regularly provides antitrust compliance training, and has been involved in the presentation of companies’ antitrust compliance programs to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division.
Lauren also advises the firm's healthcare clients on a variety of antitrust and competition issues, including competitor collaborations, information exchanges, group purchasing arrangements, hospital and physician group mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and clinical integration.
Lauren has been individually recognized for antitrust in Illinois by Chambers USA, Thomson Reuters, Lawdragon, and Crain’s. The firm's Antitrust, Competition, and Trade Regulation group has been recognized by Chambers USA for Antitrust in Illinois (2020-2023), by Best Law Firms® Tier 1 Antitrust Law (2017-2023) and as the “Cartel & Trade Regulation Law Firm of the Year in Illinois” by the international review and assessment programs of both Corporate INTL Magazine and Global Law Experts (2016). Lauren is a frequent author and speaker on numerous topics relating to antitrust, government investigations, and compliance issues.
Lauren's commitment extends to providing pro bono legal services, and she has successfully represented several individuals seeking asylum in the United States. She is also actively involved in the firm-wide Women in the Profession Committee and is the chair of both the Chicago office's Women in the Profession Group, and the Chicago office's Associate Development Committee.
Lauren was a summer associate at a Chicago-based law firm in 2006. During law school, she was a judicial extern to the Honorable Ronald Guzman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Also, she was a law clerk for a small insurance defense firm in Chicago throughout law school.
- Named to Thomson Reuters' Stand-out Lawyers, 2024-2025
- Named to Lawdragon's 500 Leading Litigators in America, 2023-2025
- Named to Lexology’s Who’s Who Legal Competition – USA as a Future Leader, 2024
- Recognized by Chambers USA for Antitrust in Illinois, 2021-2024
- Named to Crain’s Notable Women in Law, 2020, 2024
- Named to the Chicago Law Bulletin Media Women in Law list, 2023
- Named to the Illinois Rising Stars list in the area of Antitrust Litigation, 2015-2021
- Recognized by Chambers USA as an Up-and-Coming lawyer for Antitrust in Illinois, 2018-2020
- Named an “Emerging Lawyer” in the areas of Antitrust Law and Criminal Defense Law: White Collar by Leading Lawyers, 2015-2019
- American Bar Association, Antitrust Section, Litigation Section, Health Law Section
- Chicago Women in Antitrust Network, Co-Chair
- American Health Lawyers Association, Antitrust Practice Group Member
- No Laying Up (NLU) Podcast, Episode 589: AIG Women's Open, Wyndham Recap + LIV/PGA Tour Complaint, 8 August 2023 (guest speaker)
- Women in Manufacturing: Navigating 2023 Disruptors, 16 May 2023 (co-presenter)
- “Healthcare and the End of Antitrust Safety Zones: Increased Scrutiny of Information Exchanges, Collaborations, Mergers,” Strafford Group, 3 May 2023 (co-presenter)
- “Expanded Merger Review Under the Biden FTC: Implications for Horizontal and Vertical M&A,” Strafford Group, 2 February 2022 (co-presenter)
- “Non-Competes, Wage Fixing, and No-Poach Agreements: Hot Issues and Looming Changes,” The American Law Institute, 1 March 2023 (co-presenter)
- “Expanded Merger Review Under the Biden FTC: Implications for Horizontal and Vertical M&A,” Strafford Group, 2 February 2022 (co-presenter)
- New Data Available Under the Hospital Price Transparency Rule (co-presenter), 17 November 2022
- Antitrust Invades the Workplace: What Employers Need to Know About "No Poach" Agreements, Non-Solicitation Clauses, and Employee Non-Competes (co-presenter), March 2022
- Antitrust Earthquake! What corporate M&A attorneys need to know about recent developments in antitrust merger enforcement (co-presenter), October 2021
- “Antitrust Compliance: Developments, Best Practices and New Approaches,” The 33rd Annual Antitrust and Consumer Protection Seminar, Seattle, WA, 2 November 2016 (co-presenter)
- “Business Risks and Mitigation Strategies for Japanese Companies in an Era of Increased Antitrust Enforcement,” K&L Gates Event, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, September 2016 (co-presenter)
- "Business Risks and Mitigation Strategies in an Era of Increased Antitrust Enforcement,” K&L Gates Event, Chicago, November 2015 (co-presenter)
- “Cartel and Criminal Practice Update,” ABA Section of Antitrust Law, Cartel and Criminal Practice Committee, March 2015
- "Federal and State Regulation of Food," Feeding America, Chicago, January 2009 (co-presenter)
- Co-author, “Competitive Implications of Pricing Algorithms Under the United States Antitrust Laws,” CPI Antirust Chronicle, 28 February 2024
- “State Pre-Merger Notification Requirements for Healthcare Transactions,” The Health Lawyer, 20 December 2023
- Co-author, “Ninth Circuit: Apple Case Leads to Additional Clarity on Section 1 Claims,” GCR US Courts Annual Review, Ch. 7 (4th ed.), 2023
- “U.S. Antitrust Agencies Propose Significant Changes to Premerger Notification Requirements,” Reuters, 30 June 2023
- “No-Poach Guilty Plea Flags How to Mitigate Risks,” Bloomberg Law, 22 September 2022
- "Antitrust Enforcement of No-Poach Agreements in Health Care and Unique Considerations for AMCs," American Health Law Association, 18 August 2022
- "U.S. Courts Annual Review, Ninth Circuit,” Global Competition Review, 6 July 2020 (co-author)
- “Mitigating Antitrust Risks with DOJ-FTC Pandemic Guidance," Competition Law360, 31 March 2020 (co-author)
- “HR Professionals Beware: Antitrust Violations in the Employment Arena May Subject Employers and their HR Personnel to Criminal Prosecution,” Business Law Today, December 2016
- "FTAIA Case Update: Seventh Circuit Decision in Motorola," Mobility LLC v. AU Optronics Corp, European Competition Law Review, 2015
- "Criminal Antitrust Enforcement Poses Significant Risks for FDA-regulated Industry," FDLI Update, November/December 2015
- "Antitrust Compliance: Practical Ways to Mitigate Antitrust Risk," K&L Gates’ Global Boardroom Risk Solutions Newsletter, December 2014 (co-author)
- "Exclusive Dealing: An Antitrust Analysis," The 101 Practice Series: Breaking Down the Basics, American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, Spring 2013
- "Highlights from the FTC’s Recent Workshop on Preventing Patent “Hold-Ups” in the Standard-Setting Context," ABA Antitrust Section, Joint Conduct Committee E-Bulletin, Fall 2011
- "Foreign Investment Update: Proposed Regulations to the Recently Amended Exon-Florio Provision," Client Alert, Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group, May 2008
- Quoted, “New FTC guidelines could complicate UPMC acquisition,” Becker’s Hospital Review, 28 July 2023
- Quoted, “New Guidelines May Snag UPMC Merger Plan,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 28 July 2023
- Mentioned, “CALIFORNIA: Parties Seek to Modify Sealing Procedures,” Class Action Prospector, 16 January 2023
- Mentioned, "DOJ Drops Criminal Price-Fixing Case Against Chicken Cos.," Law360, 15 September 2022
