Michael Cowie, who was until recently a partner in Howrey’s antitrust practice, has joined Dechert’s Washington office as a partner.
Cowie is a former director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition—a position in which he supervised a 25-attorney unit responsible for antitrust merger investigations in a range of industries including healthcare, retail, and food and beverage. He also served as the FTC's senior litigation counsel responsible for directing the FTC's antitrust litigation.
At Howrey, Cowie represented corporations facing government antitrust investigations and antitrust litigation. Among the clients he has represented are Whirlpool Corp., Fortune Brands, a manufacturing company that specializes in liquor, and Corning Inc.
In a prepared statement, Cowie said, “I have worked alongside Dechert lawyers both at the FTC and in private practice,” said Cowie. “Dechert stands out for its depth in merger control and in antitrust litigation."
Cowie's move is the latest defection from Howrey, which has seen a spate of departures in the past year.
Yesterday, The Am Law Daily reported that litigation co-chair Gary Bendinger left Howrey for Sidley Austin. Two other litigation partners from Howrey's New York office--Gregory Ballard and Kevin Burke--will join Bendinger at Sidley.
In the November issue of The American Lawyer senior reporter Julie Triedman wrote, "Since March, there has been an extraordinary exodus of partners, capped in mid-October by the departure of most of the vaunted European IP practice, including the firm's Europe managing partner and 11 other partners."
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