Ana McDowall provides economic analysis and expert support in antitrust matters and regulatory proceedings. Dr. McDowall’s antitrust experience includes merger reviews and cases involving allegations of exclusionary conduct and price fixing. She provides consulting support to clients and testifying experts and manages project teams across all phases of litigation. Dr. McDowall has expertise with issues in the U.S. and European contexts, and her industry expertise includes digital and financial markets, retail, and telecommunications.
Antitrust and competition
Dr. McDowall evaluates liability, damages, and relevant market claims. Her experience ranges across matters involving alleged vertical exclusionary practices, horizontal price fixing, and attempted monopolization. In United States v. Brewbaker, a precedent-setting antitrust matter, Dr. McDowall supported an expert who opined on issues related to Section 1 of the Sherman Act.
Merger review
Dr. McDowall consults with parties on all stages of merger review, including risk assessment, pre-litigation advocacy, with agency requests, and expert support in litigation. She worked with clients and an expert in the $1.9 billion Alaska Airlines/Hawaiian Airlines Merger. Dr. McDowall also has experience in European jurisdictions, where she has provided economic analysis in merger investigations involving digital platforms, retail, and telecommunications.
Dr. McDowall submitted comments to the Draft Merger Guidelines released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in July 2023, and also offered comments to the FTC and DOJ’s Draft Vertical Merger Guidelines issued in January 2020. She has published articles on merger review in the Antitrust Source and Law360.
Regulatory matters
Dr. McDowall has consulted for government agencies and firms in the telecommunications and water industries on regulation issues. Her support has focused on evaluating the efficiency of existing regulatory schemes, or designing new frameworks. Representative work in these contexts includes analyses related to infrastructure investment subsidies and assessments of price or service quality regulation.
Entrenching and Leveraging Market Dominance in the 2023 Merger Guidelines: Insights from Amgen/Horizon
Cornerstone Research Staff and Affiliated Experts Submit Comments on the Joint FTC-DOJ Draft Merger Guidelines