Dechert Antitrust Partner Mike Cowie Named a National Law Journal Trailblazer
May 14, 2018
Dechert’s Washington, D.C.-based antitrust partner Mike Cowie has been named to the National Law Journal’s list of Regulatory & Compliance Trailblazers, an elite group of top legal professionals in the United States who are judged by the publication to have "moved the needle" in regulatory and compliance law.
In private practice and earlier as head of a Federal Trade Commission merger investigation team, Cowie has seen more transformative healthcare deals than most. At Dechert, Cowie helped win clearance for Medco Health Solutions’ US$29 billion merger with rival Express Scripts, the largest deal of 2011. Combining two of the three leading pharmacy benefit managers, the merger provoked noisy industry and media opposition, along with Congressional hearings, investigations by 30+ states, and a thorough FTC investigation.
At the FTC, Cowie took control of a Bureau of Competition merger investigation team just as federal agencies lost a seventh consecutive hospital-merger challenge. While leading a task force to reframe the agencies’ approach, Cowie directed the Evanston Northwest/Highland Park merger investigation, notching up a landmark win that ended the agencies’ losing streak and earned him the FTC’s Superior Service award.
Impressively, Cowie continues to win key mandates. He currently leads the Dechert team seeking clearance for CVS Health’s US$70 billion acquisition of health insurer Aetna, the biggest merger announced in 2017 and the largest healthcare deal in history.
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