Kyle W. Mach

Kyle W. Mach, a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, is an accomplished litigator and trial attorney specializing in complex antitrust cases. With 16 years of experience, he has developed a strong reputation for taking on high-stakes antitrust litigation and has become a key advisor to major technology clients, providing ongoing antitrust counseling.

One of Mach’s significant cases involved representing Southern California Edison against charges of monopolizing the market for electricity and other services. In this lawsuit, Southern California Electrical Firm alleged that SCE used its monopoly power to prevent SCEF from working on new electrical connections. Southern California Electrical Firm et al. v. Southern California Edison Company et al., 5:2022-cv-00968 (C.D. Cal, filed June 9, 2022).

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California partially granted SCE’s motion to dismiss, a success attributed to Mach’s compelling arguments and legal strategy. The case is set for trial in June 2024.

In a separate matter, Mach played a pivotal role in a historic federal jury trial, the to apply Section 7 of the Clayton Act to a private party claim in 40 years, resulting in a groundbreaking divestiture remedy. Steves & Sons, Inc. v. JELD-WEN, Inc., 3:16-cv-00545 (E.D. Virg., filed June 29, 2016).

The jury found in favor of Steves on all claims, awarding significant damages and future lost profits. The subsequent court order for the defendants to divest a key factory marked the first time a U.S. court permitted divestiture as a remedy in private litigation for an already-closed merger.

“The Steves & Sons matter resulted in a groundbreaking remedy for a private party — divestiture as a result of a Clayton Act Section 7 violation,” Mach said. “The case demonstrates that there remain plenty of new frontiers in antitrust law even after decades of development.”

Mach is also co-leading a team representing Google in a sprawling litigation concerning allegations that Google’s Android operating system and the Google Play store harm competition. In April 2023, Google moved for partial summary judgment.

Looking at trends in antitrust law, Mach said part of the fun of being an antitrust lawyer is constantly figuring out whether and how to apply old doctrines to new markets and business practices.

“In that vein, we will continue to see plaintiffs and enforcers focus on the ‘new economy’ industries like tech platforms, but the results in those cases will also advance our understanding of the market dynamics in more traditional industries,” he said. “In this way, we will likely learn that many of the norms we’ve applied in prior cases were too simple to capture market dynamics.”