Megan E. Jones

Megan E. Jones, a partner at Hausfeld, has more than 20 years of experience focusing on antitrust cases for plaintiffs. Her experience spans various industries, including health care, chemicals and municipal derivatives.

Jones played a pivotal role in the decade-spanning Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litigation case that recently settled for $2.67 billion.

She led the day-to-day operations, managing a litigation strategy executed by sixty law firms. This involved handling 100 million pages of documents, more than 100 depositions and a 700,000-entry privilege log. Her leadership in coordinating a vast team of diverse and talented lawyers was key to the successful outcome. The Blue Cross Blue Shield case not only involved a substantial financial settlement but also achieved important injunctive relief terms, potentially reshaping competition in health insurance markets.

“While the billions that will be paid under the proposed settlement are notable in In re Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litigation, the settlement also achieved significant injunctive relief terms which have the potential to reshape the state of competition in health insurance markets going forward,” Jones said. “It was significant to obtain that potential for more competition for a vital service like health care for Americans.”

Another case, In re Local Television Advertising Antitrust Litigation, required navigation of document production during the pandemic and successful settlement negotiations, resulting in nearly fifty million dollars in settlements. Jones’ role demonstrates her ability to adapt to changing circumstances and achieve favorable outcomes under challenging conditions. This case underscores the importance of private enforcement in antitrust, enabling businesses harmed by alleged cartels to receive compensation.

“Personally, I am also honored to be trusted by the court to be sole lead counsel in this class action,” Jones said. “That, unfortunately, is still all too rare for women in the antitrust bar, but this appointment shows the progress we have made since I started practicing twenty years ago.”

Jones also discussed current trends and challenges in antitrust law, noting that the field is already grappling with artificial intelligence and what constitutes a violation under the Sherman Act.

“How data is aggregated, used and by whom will be an issue we all face. If we think the battle of the economic experts was a challenge, I foresee the battle of coding experts to determine who wrote the code that set the price,” she said. “However, while it feels like a new frontier, I do not think this has to be a paradigm shift for antitrust. Rather, as a former FTC chairwoman said, you have to imagine whether it would be acceptable if an algorithm were a human being — if it’s not OK to share this data with ‘Bob’ and ask ‘Bob’ to set prices across horizontal competitors, it’s also not OK for an algorithm. The satellite discovery related to this kind of case will be complex, but the analysis of the issues does not have to be.”