Industry-Specific & International Experience

Automotive

Steve Cernak, served as in-house antitrust attorney at General Motors for more than 20 years, ultimately responsible for global antitrust compliance, merger reviews and litigation—tackling the toughest antitrust issues affecting the automotive field and explaining them to everyone from the CEO to factory technicians. Steve now counsels several manufacturers, suppliers, and joint ventures in the industry.

James Lerner and Molly Donovan have represented automotive-parts companies in Japan and Europe in DOJ cartel investigations and follow-on U.S. class actions and related private litigations brought by U.S. automobile manufacturers.

Telecommunications

For more than a decade, Pat Pascarella served as chief in-house antitrust counsel to SBC and AT&T.  Since then, Pat has represented numerous clients in the telecommunications and related industries including Ericsson, America Movil, TracFone, and AT&T. Before entering private practice, Pat was a member of the Department of Justice Telecommunications Task Force. 

Entertainment & Sports

Steven Madoff has represented media and entertainment clients, both at large law firms and as in-house counsel for major studios and television networks, including as former Executive Vice President of Worldwide Business & Legal Affairs for Paramount Pictures’ Pay Television, Home Entertainment and Digital Media divisions. In his twenty years at Paramount, Steve handled antitrust and competition matters, supervised litigations, and led transactional matters (joint ventures, cable channel launches and operations, and domestic and international long-term television and digital media output deals). In addition to his work at Paramount—and before that as international counsel to the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.—Steve represented other major entertainment companies on various matters, including profit-participation disputes, digital media issues, and copyright law. Steve also offers expert services in media and entertainment matters.

In addition to antitrust, Bona Law attorneys also handle trial court and appellate litigation matters involving First Amendment law, copyright, anti-piracy, internet, idea origination, defamation, right of publicity and privacy, talent contracts and profit participation disputes. We also represent clients in all aspects of transactional contract matters (i.e., development, drafting, negotiating, clearance and administration) for domestic and international motion picture, television and digital media production, acquisition, financing, distribution, licensing, hosting and joint venture agreements.

With respect to sports, Molly Donovan has represented national players’ unions and individual pro athletes in antitrust, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract litigations. Her experience includes pro basketball, pro football and equestrian sports.

Oil & Gas

Along with other Bona lawyers, Pat Pascarella’s Texas office represents the People of California in a price-fixing case against global trading firms alleged to have affected consumer-prices paid for regular and premium gasoline throughout Southern California. The matter involves futures trading on the gasoline spot market, public reporting agencies and other complex details of the U.S. oil and gas market.

Food & Agriculture

Aaron Gott served as general counsel to a regional ice cream company and has represented and advised food manufacturers and farm cooperatives in antitrust and competition matters involving class actions, the Lanham Act, antitrust compliance, and farm cooperative exemptions under the Capper-Volstead Act and state laws.

Our attorneys have also provided antitrust counseling and compliance advice in the snack-foods space and represented clients manufacturing vitamins, supplements, soft drinks, and food and feed additives.

Consumer Products & Services

A number of our partners, including Steve Cernak & Luis Blanquez, have represented manufacturers and resellers of consumer products and component parts providing antitrust compliance and counseling on issues like distribution and pricing. Our litigation partners have deep experience in global antitrust investigations and litigations concerning products ranging from rubber to insulation to health supplements to electronic components manufactured abroad and imported to the U.S. in complex distribution chains.

Partner Aaron Gott has experience in the software and tech-services space litigating contractual and partnership issues, as well as competition claims. Aaron also represents clients that provide health and prescription drug-related informational services.

Japan

The firm’s lawyers have over 40 years of experience representing companies and executives in Japan, including:

• Representing Japanese companies that are defending or cooperating in DOJ Antitrust Division and European Commission investigations (price fixing, bid rigging, market allocations and other exclusionary conduct)
• Representing Japanese executives targeted in competition-related government investigations
• Represented dozens of Japanese individuals providing informal or formal testimony in the U.S. or at the U.S. Embassy in Japan
• Counseled major Japanese companies regarding competition aspects of mergers and acquisitions
• Conducted global internal investigations for Japan-parented companies and interviewed 100s of Japanese executives across multiple matters
• Representing U.S.-subsidiaries of Japan-parented companies in subpoena-compliance matters
• Deep experience concerning e-discovery in Japan

Contact: Molly Donovan

European Union

• Luis Blanquez served with the Merger Task Force, Directorate-General for Competition on the European Commission (DG Comp) and subsequently spent 10 years with international law firms in the EU representing clients in cartel and other competition-related investigations and merger control proceedings
• Bona litigators have represented German and French manufacturers of automotive parts in worldwide cartel investigations and follow-on U.S. class actions

Contact: Luis Blanquez

Elsewhere

• Bona lawyers have served as global coordinator in cartel and other competition investigations conducted in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, New Zealand, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, and Taiwan
• Steve Cernak and Luis Blanquez have counseled clients in a number of cross-border mergers.
• Molly Donovan has counseled witnesses providing in-person testimony before the Korean Fair Trade Commission, Taiwan Fair Trade Commission, and the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore
• Pat Pascarella achieved a complete revocation of a billion-dollar fine imposed by the Mexican antitrust authority against América Móvil’s TelCel in an abuse-of-dominance case.

Contact: Pat Pascarella