Conduct Counseling & Compliance
At Bona Law we view our role as not only protecting—but also enabling—your business. The unique blend of our attorneys’ prior experiences—ranging from significant in-house positions to enforcement agencies—enables us to craft both our advice and compliance programs for efficiency and effectiveness.
On the advice side, typically, a client wants to know how it can accomplish a particular goal or objective—not why it can’t. While certain activities may pose antitrust risks, there is only a narrow range of conduct that is strictly prohibited under the antitrust laws. It has been our experience that by understanding the client’s business rationale and ultimate objective we are able to identify solutions that avoid prohibited behavior and mitigate antitrust risk of other conduct. We strive to present practical and workable advice with clear recommendations and frank and honest assessments of the risks and rewards of possible actions.
Our attorneys have counseled clients ranging in size from Fortune 10 companies to regional or local business owners on a variety of matters such as distribution, pricing, information exchanges, and trade association activities.
Compliance
Our compliance programs also benefit from our attorneys’ in-house and antitrust-enforcement experience, by providing us with a unique understanding of the primary motivators both for compliance and enforcement. Compliance programs are critical to avoid both inadvertent violations as well as appearances of impropriety—either of which can result in costly investigations and lawsuit. In addition, the existence and effectiveness of a compliance program can play an important role in an enforcement agency’s decisions about prosecution and leniency. Bona Law provides workable, efficient, and most importantly, effective solutions for all phases of compliance programs, including:
- Risk assessment
- Antitrust and competition policy development
- Program design and implementation
- Employee education and training
- Monitoring and detection
- Program evaluation and modification
Our attorneys have counseled hundreds of companies on all aspects of antitrust compliance, including:
- Distribution restrictions and terminating distributors
- Exclusive dealing
- Loyalty and Bundled discounts
- Resale Price Maintenance (“RPM”)
- Discriminatory pricing under the Robinson-Patman Act
- Joint purchasing and selling ventures
- Tying arrangements
- Issues relating to standard-setting-organizations and trade associations
- Intellectual property settlements and disputes, including licensing agreements.