Cohen Milstein

Additional Contact Number: 917 231 3212 (please leave voicemail - I will receive via email wherever I may be)

J. Douglas Richards is Managing Partner of Cohen Milstein's New York office and a partner in its antitrust practice group.  Mr. Richards has extensive expertise in class action practice and commercial litigation relating to diverse trade regulation issues, including antitrust and commodity regulation as well as related issues of patent law.  Prior to joining Cohen Milstein in 2009, Mr. Richards served as head of the antitrust practice groups at two other leading class action law firms, and prior to that as Deputy General Counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where he received a Special Service Award for exemplary accomplishment.  His general preeminence in legal practice has been recognized by the leading peer review organizations, including by being named one of 22 Antitrust "Litigation Stars" nationally by Benchmark Plaintiff Litigation, by New York Super Lawyers (2012, 2011) and by receiving the highest available peer ranking from Martindale-Hubbell.  He has written extensively about class actions, having twice authored chapters for books edited by the American Antitrust Institute covering complex issues of class action practice, as well as various law reviews and other publications.  Leading antitrust organizations frequently recognize his expertise by inviting him to speak on wide-ranging issues of substantive antitrust law, civil procedure and class actions.

Education

• A.B. University of Chicago, 1977 (economics major)
• J.D. Harvard Law School, 1981

Lead Counsel Positions In Antitrust Class Actions

• In re Buspirone Antitrust Litig., MDL 1413 (S.D.N.Y.)
• In re Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litig., MDL 1383 (E.D.N.Y.)
• Cox v. Microsoft Corp. (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County)
• In re G-Fees Antitrust Litig., No. 05114 (RWR) (D.D.C.)
• In re IPO Antitrust Litig., 01 Civ. 2014 (WHP) (S.D.N.Y.)
• In re K-Dur Antitrust Litig., MDL 1419( D.N.J.)
• Kruman v. Christie's Int'l PLC (international case in In re Auction Houses Antitrust Litig.), 00 Civ. 0648 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y.)
• In re New Motor Vehicles Antitrust Litig. MDL 1532 (D. Me.)(co-chair, executive committee)
• In re Parcel Tanker Shipping Servs. Antitrust Litig., MDL 1568 (D. Ct.)
• In re Fresh Del Monte Pineapples Antitrust Litig., MDL 04-md-1628 (RMB) (S.D.N.Y.)
• In re Plastics Additives Antitrust Litig., MDL 1684 (E.D. Pa.)
• In re Relafen Antitrust Litig., 01-12239-WG4 (D. Mass.)
• Sperry v. Crompton Corp. (Sup. Ct. Nassau County)
• In re Tamoxifen Citrate Antitrust Litig., MDL 1408 (E.D.N.Y.)
• Twombly v. Bell Atlantic Corp., 02 Civ. 10220 (GEL) (S.D.N.Y.)
• In re Reformulated Gasoline Antitrust Litig., MDL 1671 (M.D. Ca.)
• In re Wellbutrin Antitrust Litig., MDL 04-5525 (E.D. Pa.)

Leading Appeals Argued in Antitrust Class Actions

• Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007).
• Twombly v. Bell Atlantic Corp., 425 F.3d 99 (2d Cir. 2007).
• Uniondale Beer Co. v. Anheuser Busch, Inc., Nos. 95-7321, 7371 (2d Cir. 1995).
• Kruman v. Christie’s Int’l PLC, 284 F.3d 384 (2d Cir. 2002).
• In re Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litig., 544 F.3d 1323 (Fed. Cir. 2008), cert. denied, 77 U.S.L.W. 3690 (June 22, 2009).
• In re Tamoxifen Citrate Antitrust Litig., 429 F.3d 370 (2d Cir. 2005), cert. denied, 127 S.Ct. 3001 (2007).
• JLM Industries, Inc. v. Stolt-Nielsen SA, 387 F.3d 163 (2d Cir. 2004).
• American Banana, Inc. v. Del Monte Fresh Produce Co., 09-4561-cv (2d Cir. 2010).
• Sperry v. Crompton Corp., 8 N.Y. 3d 204 (2007).
• Cox v. Microsoft Corp., 8 A.D. 3d 39, 778 N.Y.S. 2d 147 (1st Dep’t 2004).
• Cox v. Microsoft Corp., 290 A.D. 2d 206, 737 N.Y.S. 2d 1 (1st Dep’t 2002).
• Sperry v. Crompton Corp., A.D. 3d 488, 810 N.Y.S. 2d 498 (2d Dep’t 2006).

Recent Publications Class Action Issues, Ch. 5 of Private Antitrust Enforcement of Antitrust Law in the United States:  A Handbook (Edward Algar, Cheltenham, UK)(co-authored with Cohen Milstein associates Michael B. Eisenkraft and Abigail Shafroth) (2012).

• Heart of Darkness -- A Satirical Commentary, 66 N.Y.U. Annual Survey of Am. Law 569 (2011).
• Aggregation of Claims, Ch. 8 of The International Handbook on Private Enforcement of Competition Law (AAI, 2010).
• Article contained in NYSBA 2010 Antitrust Law Section Symposium (transcript of oral remarks), titled “Section 2 and the EU, Too: Developments in the Analysis of Dominant Firms.”
• Predominance of Common Questions -- Common Mistakes in Applying the Class Action Standard, 41 Rutgers L.J. 163 (2009) (co-authored with partner Benjamin Brown).
• Co-author, with John Vail of the Center for Constitutional Litigation, of A Misguided Mission to Revamp the Rules, TRIAL MAGAZINE, Nov. 2009.
• Class Action Standards in Crisis: Whether Common Merits Questions Predominate Does Not Depend on the Questions’ Answers, Global Competition Policy (May 2009).
• Three Limitations of Twombly: Antitrust Conspiracy Inferences in a Context of Historical Monopoly, 82 St. John’s L. Rev. 849 (2008).
• What Makes An Antitrust Class Action Remedy Successful?: A Tale of Two Settlements, 80 Tulane L. Rev. 621 (2005).

Recent Speaking Engagements

• June 2012 - Speaker at Federal Bar Council/Antitrust Section presentation entitled "Antitrust Conspiracies, Class Actions and Refusals to Deal: Parallels, Signals, Plus Factors and Agreements."
• April 2012 - Speaker at 12th Annual Loyola Law School Antitrust Colloquium on the subject of "Exclusion as a Core Principle of Antitrust."
• February 2012 - Testified before United States House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet, at a hearing titled "Litigation as a Predatory Practice" concerning whether antitrust immunity under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine should be curtailed.  
• January 2012 - Moderator at Next Generation of Antitrust Scholarship Conference, held at NYU Law School. 
• December 2011 - Speaker at American Antitrust Institute, 5th Annual Future of Private Antitrust Enforcement Conference.
• October 2011 - Plaintiffs’ bar commentator at Antitrust Forum organized by Antitrust Law Section of NYSBA entitled “Upward Price Pressure, Market Definition, and Supply Mobility.”
• January 2011 - Speaker at NYS Bar Association Antitrust Law Section annual meeting concerning recent developments in case law under Daubert, on panel titled “Fifty Miles from Home with a Briefcase: Expert Hot Topics.”
• December 2010 - Speaker at Private Enforcement Conference of the American Antitrust Institute at National Press Club in Washington, D.C., regarding recent developments involving motions to dismiss in antitrust cases.
• July 2010 - Speaker at Pound Civil Justice Institute 2010 Forum for State Appellate Court Judges (before approximately 100 state court judges) in Vancouver, B.C. regarding application of Twombly in state courts.
• June 2010 - One of approximately thirty class action practitioners interviewed by Prof. Francis McGovern of Duke Law School in preparation for his report commissioned by the United States Judicial Conference regarding Multi-District Litigation procedures under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 and ways they might be improved.
• May 2010 - One of approximately 180 judges, law professors and practitioners participating in a conference at Duke Law School sponsored by the Standing Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure concerning possible rule revisions.
• April 2010 - Participant in mock argument before the Hon. Sidney H. Stein of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, opposite Paul Saunders of Cravath Swaine & Moore, entitled “Twombly v. Conley—The fight of the Century.”
• March 2010 - Presentation to Rutgers–Camden Law School Faculty and Students regarding Twombly.
• February 2010 - Speaker on Private Enforcement panel at a symposium at NYU Law School entitled “Critical Directions in Antitrust,” sponsored by the NYU Annual Survey of American Law and organized by Profs. Harry First and Eleanor Fox.
• January 2010 - Speaker at annual meeting of the NYS Bar Antitrust Section, along with leading attorneys from the Intel and Microsoft cases from Europe and America, in program titled “Section 2: Is It Really Coming Back?”
• December 2009 - Speaker at Private Enforcement Conference of the American Antitrust Institute at National Press Club in Washington, D.C., regarding issues of class certification.
• November 2009 - Panelist at Federal Bar Council presentation to Second Circuit law clerks, moderated by United States District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, titled “Issues That Arise in Antitrust Cases That You Don’t Learn About in Law School.”
• October 2009 - Panelist at Federal Bar Council program, moderated by the Hon. Mark R. Kravitz of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, entitled “Motions to Dismiss in Federal Court After the Supreme Court’s Decisions in Twombly and Iqbal.”
• October 2009 - Panelist, along with former Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett and FTC Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch, with regard to “Monopolization in the New Administration,” at the Newport Summit on Antitrust Law and Economics.
• September 2009 - Speaker for AAJ Teleseminar entitled “Iqbal/Twombly: The Death of Notice Pleading?”
• September 2009 - Panelist on issues of class certification at University of San Francisco symposium entitled “A Prescription for Antitrust Enforcement in the Pharmaceutical Industry.”
• January 2009 - Represented plaintiff’s bar at a meeting of the Standing Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, held in San Antonio, Texas, for a presentation concerning the extent of recent increased discovery burdens in federal litigation and possible revisions to rules to address them.
• September 2008 - Panelist at the annual meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General, held in Salt Lake City, Utah, for presentation entitled “Recent Developments in Intellectual Property,” along with Columbia Law School Prof. Scott Hemphill and Cheryl Johnson, Assistant Attorney General, California.
• April 2008 - Speaker at conference held at N.Y.U. Law School, organized by N.Y.U. antitrust Profs. Harry First and Eleanor Fox, commenting on Report and Recommendations of the Antitrust Modernization Commission, dated April 2, 2007.
• November 2007 - Panelist at the ABA Fall Forum in Washington, D.C.for presentation entitled “Litigation an Antitrust Case After Twombly.”
• October 2007 - Panelist at the 2007 Fall Bench and Bar Retreat of the Federal Bar Council, in Lenox, Massachusetts, titled “Rule 23 in the Second Circuit: Post-CAFA and Post-IPO.”

Legal and Policy Advisory Positions

• American Antitrust Institute
    Member, Board of Advisors
• Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies
    Member, Board of Advisors
• Antitrust Section, New York State Bar Association
    Member, Executive Committee