Law360 is providing free access to its coronavirus coverage to make sure all members of the legal community have accurate information in this time of uncertainty and change. Use the form below to sign up for any of our weekly newsletters. Signing up for any of our section newsletters will opt you in to the weekly Coronavirus briefing.
Sign up for our Competition newsletter
You must correct or enter the following before you can sign up:
Thank You!
Law360 (April 16, 2020, 8:31 PM EDT) --
 |
| Jon Cieslak |
California was in the middle of shutting down nonessential businesses and limiting gatherings when Cooley LLP recruit Jon Cieslak started his new gig as a partner in Bona Law's antitrust practice in mid-March, but despite the general societal upheaval, he said Thursday it has been "a really smooth transition."
"It's been much easier than I anticipated, to tell you the truth," Cieslak said. "But Bona is really flexible and provides an environment where it's really easy to work remotely. In fact, most of us work remotely almost all the time, so coming into the job I was already planning on having a home office."
With his wife and child now at home, Cieslak joked that the size of his home office has now tripled — but otherwise, Bona Law was "already built to be nimble, so it was not a big adjustment for us."
At his former firm, Cieslak said, he learned a lot about antitrust litigating but spent years working on a few big similar cases and is now excited for the chance to branch out. With him, he brings a wealth of experience in the intersection between antitrust and white collar law and can't wait to expand Bona's capabilities on the criminal side of competition law.
It's one of the things that the attorney said he loves about antitrust, the way it "straddles the civil and criminal worlds."
"When you can help people who are in dire straits, it's really rewarding," he said. "Whether it's a civil antitrust case or a criminal one you've got somebody who's got a big problem that they really need help with. These are cases that can be life or death for a company or incarceration for an individual."
While at Cooley, Cieslek helped defend the CEO of AU Optronics Corp. after he had been convicted of taking part in a global plot to fix the price of LCD panels, and successfully helped an airfare publisher escape claims that it had been plotting with American Airlines, Delta and United to fix travel prices.
The case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, but the justices declined to take up the matter, effectively killing the suit against Airline Tariff Publishing Co. and solidifying the dismissal that the attorneys secured from a California district court.
--Editing by Stephen Berg.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
