Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that Thomas Brown will join the Antitrust and Global Competition and the Global Banking and Payments Systems practices in San Francisco as partner in 2012. Mr. Brown, an antitrust lawyer with nationally recognized payment systems expertise, will join from O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where he is a partner.

“Tom has a cutting-edge practice at the convergence of financial services, IT and antitrust, particularly in the area of payment systems, where Tom is among the leading practitioners with concentrated across-the-board expertise for this emerging and constantly evolving industry, helping us expand our capabilities serving the financial services sector and technology clients throughout the firm’s global network,” said Michael Cohen, chair of the Antitrust and Global Competition practice. “His arrival will mark the continued strengthening of our important West Coast antitrust presence, particularly in the Northern California technology corridors,” he added.

“We have strengthened our global antitrust capabilities significantly over the past year,” said William Sullivan, chair of the firm’s Litigation department. “Tom’s addition will enhance and reinforce the strategic connection we have been building between our payments systems, antitrust, IP and regulatory practices,” he added.

Mr. Brown’s practice focuses on competition law and legal issues affecting the financial services industry. In addition to strategically advising payment systems and financial services clients across a broad spectrum of regulatory issues, he has litigated notable antitrust cases, including class actions, in the financial services industry for more than fifteen years. Mr. Brown recently helped eBay defeat a putative class action in which plaintiffs claimed that eBay’s acquisition of PayPal enabled the company to charge supracompetitive fees. He was also a member of the trial team that handled the defense of the then largest civil antitrust class action in U.S. history for Visa U.S.A. Inc., In re Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation.

Immediately prior to joining O’Melveny, Mr. Brown was Vice President, Senior Counsel at Visa U.S.A. Inc. There he was responsible for managing the aftermath of the settlement in In re Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation, including the dozens of consumer class actions that were filed following the settlement. He was also deeply involved in the company’s transformation from a co-op to a shareholder owned company.

Mr. Brown’s hire will follow the arrival of Holly House, former co-chair of the antitrust and trade regulation practice group at Bingham McCutchen LLP, in September 2011, and the hire of Scott Hataway, a former U.S. DOJ Antitrust Division trial lawyer, who joined the firm’s Antitrust and Global Competition practice as partner in Washington, DC in March 2011 from Howrey LLP.

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