Eric J. Stock is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Eric’s practice focuses on antitrust litigation and investigations, especially for clients in the pharmaceutical, financial services, high tech, and health care industries. He is a member of Gibson Dunn’s Antitrust and Competition and Litigation Practice Groups.
Eric has been recognized as a leading antitrust lawyer by publications such as Chambers USA, Global Competition Review, The Best Lawyers in America®, Law360, Lawdragon, Benchmark Litigation and Who's Who Legal Competition. Global Competition Review named him as one of the top Future Leaders in competition law globally under age 45 (2017), and earlier, as one of the top antitrust lawyers under age 40 (2012). He has been described by publications as “exceptionally smart, responsive and creative in seeking solutions,” (Chambers USA) and “an outstanding competition lawyer” who is “highly esteemed by peers,” particularly in pharmaceutical matters (Who’s Who Legal). In 2022, Eric was shortlisted for Life Sciences Antitrust Practitioner of the Year by LMG Life Sciences.
Eric ’s practice involves all aspects of antitrust enforcement, including civil and criminal government investigations, merger clearance, and working with international regulators. He frequently is responsible for coordinating a client’s response to antitrust investigations and civil litigation in multiple jurisdictions and proceedings. He has extensive experience litigating class actions and other civil antitrust cases in federal court, including defending clients accused of unlawful monopolization, collusion, and anticompetitive transactions. Eric has particular experience counseling and litigating matters where a client faces antitrust scrutiny as a result of its defense of its intellectual property rights. In 2014, he served as the lead trial lawyer in a pharmaceutical monopolization case in the Southern District of New York. Eric’s success at trial was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Eric served for three years as Chief of the Antitrust Bureau at the New York Attorney General’s Office (“NYAG”). In that role, he was responsible for overseeing the enforcement of New York State’s antitrust laws and representing the interests of New York and its consumers in national antitrust matters. During Eric ’s tenure at NYAG, he served as lead counsel and lead trial attorney for New York in several noteworthy antitrust litigation matters and supervised dozens of antitrust investigations led by the state. He also had extensive experience partnering with the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission in joint federal and state investigations of proposed mergers or other business conduct. For example, he served as lead counsel for New York in the successful lawsuit brought by New York and the U.S. Department of Justice challenging an allegedly anticompetitive merger of Manhattan tour bus operators.
During his time at NYAG, Eric regularly worked with other state AG offices throughout the country on antitrust or related complex business litigation issues. In addition, in early 2016, he served as NYAG’s Acting Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice, a position which supervises much of the office’s business-related affirmative litigation, including cases filed under the Martin Act and state deceptive practices laws.
Eric has recently achieved several important victories for his clients. In a class action brought by purchasers of Eurodollar futures against financial institutions accused of manipulating the LIBOR benchmark, Eric defeated class certification after deposing plaintiffs’ lead economist, leading the briefing, and handling oral argument in both the District Court and Second Circuit. In an action brought against a major branded pharmaceutical company by a competitor alleging that the defendant unlawfully monopolized the market for dry eye medications through the use of bundled discounts, Eric won dismissal on the pleadings. Eric also won a motion to dismiss on behalf of a group of five major New York hospital systems that were accused by a competitor of colluding in violation of the antitrust laws.
Other examples of Eric’s recent representations include:
Pharmaceuticals
- Representing major branded pharmaceutical companies in antitrust class actions alleging unlawful “reverse payment” patent settlements (ongoing).
- Representing a major biotech company in an antitrust action filed by a competitor alleging monopolization of the market for certain cholesterol reducing medications through the use of bundled discounts (ongoing).
- Assisting a branded pharmaceutical manufacturer in obtaining FTC clearance of several important acquisitions (clearance granted).
Financial Services
- Representing a major European financial institution in the defense of more than a dozen class actions filed in the S.D.N.Y. alleging manipulation of various interest rate and foreign exchange benchmarks (ongoing).
- Representing a major European financial institution in defending class actions filed in the S.D.N.Y. alleging manipulation of precious metals benchmarks (motion to dismiss granted).
- Representing a major seller of financial services solutions in a class action alleging antitrust violations in connection with the operation of the “CUSIP” system for identifying North American securities (ongoing).
High Tech and Health Care
- Represented major telecommunications company in a civil antitrust lawsuit brought against it by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (resolved).
- Representing a major hospital system in Connecticut against accusations by a competing hospital system that it engaged in unlawful monopolization of the local market.
Examples of antitrust litigation matters that Eric is currently litigating, or litigated previously during his time in private practice and government include: In re Zetia (Ezetimibe) Antitrust Litig., 18-MD-02836 (E.D. Va.) (class action alleging unlawful “reverse payment” patent settlement between Merck and generic manufacturer); Shire US, Inc. v. Allergan, Inc. et al., 17-7716 (D.N.J.) (competitor lawsuit alleging Allergan monopolized drug market by bundling and exclusive dealing practices); In re Restasis Antitrust Litigation, 18-MD-2819 (S.D.N.Y.) (class action alleging Allergan monopolized drug market through patent and regulatory actions); In Re: Libor-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litig., 11-MD-0262 (S.D.N.Y.) (class action against banks alleged to have manipulated Libor benchmark); In re Foreign Exchange Benchmark Rates Antitrust Litig., 13-CV-07789 (S.D.N.Y.) (class action against banks alleged to have manipulated foreign exchange markets); In re Commodity Exchange, Inc. Gold Futures and Options Trading Litigation, 14-MD-2548 (S.D.N.Y.) (class action against banks alleged to have manipulated precious metals benchmark); U.S. v. AT&T Corp. et al., 17-cv-02511 (D.D.C.) (government antitrust lawsuit seeking to block AT&T/Time Warner transaction); Beltran, et al v. Interexchange, Inc., et al, 14-CV-03074 (D. Col.) (class action against au pair agencies alleged to have fixed au pair stipend levels); United States and New York v. Twin America, LLC et al., Civ. No. 12-8989 (S.D.N.Y.) (government antitrust lawsuit seeking to undo consummated merger of Manhattan tour bus companies); New York v. Actavis plc et al., Civ. No. 14-7473 (S.D.N.Y.) (government challenge to alleged pharmaceutical “product hopping”); In re Air Cargo Shipping Services Antitrust Litig., 06-MD-1775 (E.D.N.Y) (class actions and investigations concerning alleged collusion in air cargo industry); In re Packaged Ice Antitrust Litig., 08-MD 1952 (E.D. Mich) (class actions alleging collusion in packaged ice industry); and IBM v Platform Solutions, Inc., Civ. No. 06-13565 (S.D.N.Y.) (antitrust dispute between IBM and competitors that sought to emulate IBM’s mainframe computers).
Earlier in his career, Eric was an antitrust litigation partner at another major international law firm. He is a past Chair and current Executive Committee member of the Antitrust Section of the New York State Bar Association; he previously served as the Section’s Vice Chair, Secretary and Financial Officer. Eric serves as Co-Chair of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association.
Eric served as law clerk to U.S. District Judge Allen Schwartz in the Southern District of New York. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1998.
Eric is also the co-author of the publication “What the Antitrust Case Against Martin Shkreli Tells Us About the Latest Trends in Antitrust Enforcement and Shareholder Liability," originally published by the New York Law Journal on February 28, 2022, which was selected in 2023 by Concurrence as the winning Business Article in the Concerted Practices category.
Capabilities
- Antitrust and Competition
- FDA and Health Care
- Financial Institutions
- Life Sciences
- Litigation
- Media, Entertainment, and Technology
Credentials
Education:
- Harvard University - 1998 Juris Doctor
- University of Pennsylvania - 1995 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- New York Bar
Clerkships:
- USDC, Southern District of New York, Hon. Allen G. Schwartz, 1998 - 2000