Taking Advantage of an Opportunity Opened Doors for Antitrust Section Chair
7.25.2024
Robin van der Meulen embodies how a young attorney can have a significant impact on the New York State Bar Association.
The Brooklyn Law School graduate recently recalled how an opportunity was presented to her as a young associate when Bill Rooney, the partner she worked most closely with and a former chair of the Antitrust Section, asked her assistance with his bar association responsibilities.
van der Meulen jumped at the chance that initiated her journey through the association’s leadership hierarchy. A few years later, she was asked to chair a committee. Her success in that role led to a seat on the executive committee, which preceded her own ascension to chair of the Antitrust Section in January.
“I’ve always been involved with the state bar association and have found a lot of value in it. It has allowed me to develop some great relationships with attorneys outside of my firm and has helped me become familiar with other people in the antitrust bar in New York,” said van der Meulen.
Her focus this summer is on a pair of annual section programs that are scheduled for the fall. The Merger Program: “Geopolitics, Merger Control and Foreign Investment Developments,” will take place on Sept. 25 at Paul, Weiss in New York City. The William Howard Taft Lecture is set for some time in November. The lecture’s working title is “Do the 1960s Merger Cases Reside in a Time Capsule that Conflicts with Contemporary Supreme Court Antitrust Law?”
van der Meulen also said that the section is aiming to expand its reach by offering programs through different platforms, including a YouTube channel. In addition, the section’s Cartel and Criminal Practice Committee recently produced a four-part podcast that dissects the Marine Hose Cartel antitrust case that involved a conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices and allocate market shares of a flexible rubber hose that is used to transfer oil between tankers and storage facilities.
“We’ve been doing a good job of getting younger people involved in this way. We’re providing new attorneys opportunities to contribute through committee work and that has been good for our section,” she said.
When looking back on her career so far, van der Meulen mentioned that the chance to learn firsthand from former Antitrust Section chairs Jay Himes, Meg Gilford and Stacey Anne Mahoney, among other Antitrust Section leaders, proved to be invaluable.
In May, van der Meulen joined Scott+Scott as a partner in the firm’s New York City office where she brings 15 years of experience litigating a wide variety of antitrust matters. She recently recovered $30 million for end-payor plaintiffs in the Novartis and Par Antitrust Litigation, a pay-for-delay case relating to the hypertension drug Exforge.
van der Meulen was named a 2021 finalist for Euromoney’s Women in Business Law – Antitrust and Competition Lawyer of the Year. She was raised in upstate New York, earned her bachelor’s degree from Columbia University where she was a member of the track and field team, and enjoys gardening, biking and the outdoors in her spare time.
