Robins Kaplan LLP and Partner Hollis Salzman Named Finalists for Global Competition Review’s 2020 Antitrust Awards

Global Competition Review has recognized Robins Kaplan LLP and partner Hollis Salzman as finalists for the 2020 Antitrust Awards. The firm is a finalist for Regional Firm of the Year: Americas, and Salzman is a finalist for Litigator of the Year. Additionally, one of the firm’s ongoing matters, an antitrust matter concerning disposable contact lens manufacturers, was selected as a finalist for Litigation of the Year – Cartel Prosecution. Finalists were chosen by GCR’s editorial team, and winners will be selected through online votes. Voting is open until midnight on February 28.

Robins Kaplan was recognized for several successes over the past year, including securing final approval of a $6.26 billion settlement against some of the world’s biggest banks and Visa and Mastercard in 2019. The deal capped more than a decade of litigation over Robins Kaplan’s innovative theory that Visa and Mastercard’s organizational structures and operating rules were anticompetitive in nature. In addition, the firm secured over $1.2 billion in settlements in the historic auto parts antitrust litigation and $400 million in settlements in the Wells Fargo forced placed insurance case.

Salzman, member of the Executive Board and managing partner of the firm’s New York office, has recovered more than $2 billion in settlements for victims throughout her 25-plus-year career. In the past year alone, she secured more than $53 million in settlements for victims of a massive web of anticompetitive conspiracies throughout the auto parts industry. The cumulative settlement figure - topping more than $1.2 billion - is one of the largest amounts that end payors have ever recovered in a U.S. antitrust lawsuit. Also in 2019, Salzman was appointed to the two-firm plaintiff steering committee for a lawsuit filed by the firm against owners of more than 500 local television stations of scheming to artificially inflate the price of advertisements.

Salzman and the firm have also been deeply involved in the ongoing disposable contact lens antitrust litigation. In 2015, the firm was named co-lead counsel in the litigation, and in 2019 Salzman secured a $10 million settlement from Bausch + Lomb. GCR shortlisted that case for Litigation of the Year – Cartel Prosecution, which recognizes creative, strategic, and innovative litigation on behalf of plaintiffs in a private action for cartel damages.

Winners will be announced at the GCR awards ceremony on April 21.