Christopher V. Lau

Christopher Lau consults on antitrust and competition matters, with a focus on mergers, merger investigations, and related litigation. Dr. Lau has experience working across a range of industries, including airlines, business-to-business (B2B), healthcare, manufacturing and wholesale distribution, medical devices and equipment, and retail. Before joining Cornerstone Research, he served as a staff economist at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Merger review

Dr. Lau has extensive merger review experience. He consults to merging parties on pre-deal risk assessments on behalf of potential acquirers and targets, as well as investigations of proposed mergers conducted by the FTC and the Department of Justice (DOJ), among other agencies.

Dr. Lau’s experience working at and alongside the antitrust agencies provides valuable insights into the approaches the agencies consider when evaluating economic issues in merger investigations. While at the FTC, he led several investigations for the Bureau of Economics, including the acquisition of Services Group of America by US Foods, which was consummated under a divestiture agreement, as well as other nonpublic matters.

Antitrust litigation

Dr. Lau provides economic expertise in antitrust litigation, both as a testifying expert and in supporting roles for other testifying experts.

As a testifying expert at Cornerstone Research, Dr. Lau was retained by the FTC in its investigation of a proposed merger between healthcare providers. While at the FTC, he served as the agency’s economic expert in a separate hospital merger, delivering qualitative and quantitative analyses that contributed to the agency’s decision to issue a complaint; the parties ultimately abandoned the merger.

In addition to his expert work, Dr. Lau has significant experience supporting other experts in high-profile antitrust cases. His work includes:

• Assisting the DOJ’s expert on economic efficiencies and barriers to entry in the successful challenge of the JetBlue/Spirit merger; Dr. Lau’s work throughout the litigation helped support the expert’s conclusion, which the judge ultimately cited, that other ultra-low-cost airlines could not sufficiently replace Spirit after the merger
• While at the FTC, providing support for the agency’s economic expert in the challenge to Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare’s proposed acquisition of two Memphis-area hospitals
• Also at the FTC, contributing as a member of the agency’s litigation teams in the challenges of Staples/Office Depot (2016) and Otto Bock/Freedom Innovations

Thought leadership

Dr. Lau’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Industrial Economics and the Economics of Education Review. He has also contributed writings to the Antitrust Source and Law360.