Matthew J. Reilly, P.C.
Overview
Matt Reilly is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Matt is one of the preeminent antitrust practitioners in the country. Matt’s practice focuses on a wide range of antitrust matters, including antitrust litigation, complex transactions and antitrust counseling and government investigations. He is regularly relied on by major clients to navigate the approval process for the most complex, high-profile transactions, and to prepare to litigate mergers that face steep resistance from the agencies.
Matt has led over a dozen agency-litigated merger challenges, representing either the FTC or the merging parties. During his many years in senior roles at the FTC, Matt led many of the agency’s most prominent merger matters and, as a result of his litigation achievements, received the Commission’s highest recognition, the Chairman’s Award. More recently, in the last ten years alone, Matt has been brought into more than ten merger investigations post-Second Request to supplement existing counsel to obtain deal approval after the FTC or DOJ has signaled serious concerns, to prepare for litigation, and, if necessary, to litigate the deal on behalf of the merging parties. Matt is one of a very small number of active antitrust attorneys to have led as first-chair trial counsel successful merger trials both for and against the federal enforcement agencies. As a result of his career accomplishments, Matt was recently elected into the five-member inaugural class of Legal 500’s Antitrust Merger Control Hall of Fame as one of its youngest members. One prominent client describes Matt simply as “the fixer — their first and clear choice for a deal that is facing a really tough fight” at the agency or in litigation.
Matt also frequently assists clients navigating non-merger litigations and investigations. His experience includes securing unconditional closure of multiple FTC and DOJ Sherman Act investigations, and his clients in this area include several Fortune 100 technology and health care companies. Matt was recently retained by two Fortune 20 companies to take a leading role in high-stakes agency conduct investigations.
Experience
Representative Matters
UnitedHealth Group (UHG) in antitrust litigation challenging United’s $13 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare; verdict secured for the client following a 12-day bench trial when the court denied the federal government's request to enjoin the merger. The litigation win was on front page of the WSJ and was awarded Litigator of the Week for this victory
UHG in its acquisitions of LHC Group and a large multi-specialty provider group; Full compliance with a Second Request (one from FTC and one from DOJ) and both deals closed without a consent
CDK in a high-stakes antitrust conduct matter. Brought in to litigate the matter seven years after the plaintiffs filed the complaint
SEG. Southeastern Grocers, parent company of Winn-Dixie, Harveys Supermarket, and Fresco y Más grocery stores, in a comprehensive strategic divestiture of its business to ALDI, Fresco Retail Group, and two large pharmacy chains
Resonetics in its $900 million acquisition of SAES’s medical nitinol business; FTC closed the investigation after full compliance with a Second Request
Celanese Corp. in its $11 billion acquisition of a majority of DuPont’s Mobility & Materials business. The FTC closed its investigation after full compliance with a Second Request
Prince-Ferro. Prince International, an American Securities portfolio company that produces specialty chemicals, minerals, and industrial additives, in its $2.1 billion acquisition of Ferro, and its related divestiture to KPS Capital Partners
Hellman & Friedman, as part of an investor group, in the $10.2 billion acquisition of Zendesk
Owl Rock Capital Group in its business combination with Dyal Capital Partners to form Blue Owl Capital Inc., and Blue Owl’s subsequent $12.15 billion business combination with Altimar Acquisition Corp.
Olympus Partners-backed Liqui-Box in its acquisition of DS Smith’s plastics division. The DOJ closed its investigation after full compliance with the Second Request and resulting divestiture to TriMas Corp.
Bristol Myers Squibb in its $13.1 billion acquisition of MyoKardia
Staples Inc. in its $996 million acquisition of Essendant Inc. The FTC cleared the transaction, subject to a 3-2 vote on a firewall consent, following full compliance with a Second Request
AbbVie in its $63 billion acquisition of Allergan, obtaining approval of the divestiture by a 3-2 vote of the FTC, allowing the deal to close less than eleven months after signing
Tenet Healthcare Corporation in antitrust litigation arising out of its proposed sale of two hospitals in Memphis, Tennessee. KE was brought in months after the Second Request issued
Bristol-Myers Squibb in its $90 billion acquisition of Celgene and its related $13.4 billion divesture of Celgene’s OTEZLA® program to Amgen
GlaxoSmithKline in its $12.7 billion joint venture with Pfizer to combine their consumer health businesses
Spectrum Brands in its $2 billion carve-out sale of its global consumer battery business to Energizer
Mazor Robotics in its $1.6 billion sale to Medtronic plc
Strayer Education in its $1.9 billion merger of equals with Capella Education Company, creating a national leader in education innovation
Tronox Limited in its $2.2 billion acquisition of Cristal’s TiO(2) business. The deal closed after litigation on the merits with the FTC and the divestiture of Cristal’s North American titanium dioxide assets
Tronox Limited in antitrust litigation arising from the FTC’s challenge to Tronox’s $2.2 billion worldwide acquisition of Cristal, Ltd.’s titanium dioxide business. The parties entered into a settlement, in which the FTC allowed the acquisition to proceed with the divestiture, a remedy that addressed the antitrust concerns
More
Thought Leadership
Publications
“Merger Remedy Divestitures: the Agencies Zig and the Courts Zag,” Antitrust (September 16, 2023) – Winner, 2024 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business Articles, Mergers (Concurrences)
Speaking Engagements
Guest Speaker on UHG/Change and merger litigation at the Kellogg School of Business, University of Chicago
Speaker at ABA-sponsored panels, New York Bar Association conferences and economic symposiums
Recognition
Recognized in “500 Leading Litigators” by Lawdragon, 2025
Recognized as a “National Practice Area Star” and a “Local Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation, 2019–2025
Recognized as “Outstanding” in Washington, D.C., by Global Competition Review 100, 2022–2025
Recognized for Antitrust Law by Best Lawyers®, 2021–2025
Recognized as “Hall of Fame” for Antitrust: Merger Control by The Legal 500, 2020–2024
Recognized for Antitrust in the District of Columbia by Chambers USA, 2014–2024
Recognized as a Global Leader (2022) and a Thought Leader (2023) by Who’s Who Legal
Recognized as Litigator of the Week for UnitedHealth Group/Change win against DOJ
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- District of Columbia
- Massachusetts
Courts
- Supreme Court of the United States
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Education
- Georgetown University Law CenterJ.D.cum laude1995
- Duke University Sanford School of Public PolicyM.A.1991
First in class
- Colby CollegeB.A.magna cum laude1988
Phi Beta Kappa
News &
Insights
- Press Release Kirkland Advises Worldpay and GTCR on Sale of Worldpay to Global Payments for $24.25B in Conjunction with Transformative Three-Way Transaction
- Award Lawdragon Recognizes 16 Kirkland Attorneys in its 2025 List of Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers
- Press Release Kirkland Advises AssuredPartners on $13.45 Billion Acquisition by Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
- Press Release Kirkland Advises TPG on Strategic Partnership with Surescripts
- Award Lawdragon Recognizes 45 Kirkland Attorneys in its List of 500 Leading Litigators in America 2024