Michael Byowitz was a Partner for more than 30 years at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz specializing in antitrust and competition law and is now Of Counsel at the Firm. He has served as antitrust counsel on scores of major domestic and international mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate takeovers at the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and State Attorneys General in the U.S. and has consulted on antitrust investigations in the EU, the UK, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, and many other countries.

Mr. Byowitz is a frequent speaker and has published articles on antitrust issues in the U.S. and abroad.   He has been ranked among leading antitrust specialists in peer reviews including Global Competition Review, Who’s Who Legal, Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers and Chambers.  Before joining Wachtell Lipton in 1983, Mr. Byowitz served as a Senior Trial Attorney with the Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, in Washington, DC.

Mr. Byowitz has long been active in the American Bar Association.  He currently serves as a Delegate-at-Large in the ABA House of Delegates.  Mr. Byowitz was a member of the ABA Board of Governors (2017-2020) and has served in the House of Delegates for more than 15 years as a Delegate At-Large and before that as a Delegate for the ABA International Law Section and for the New York State Bar Association.  He was a member of the ABA Committee on Issues of Significance to the Legal Profession and is a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Membership.  Mr. Byowitz has served as Chair of the ABA International Law Section; Chair of three of the Section’s divisions; Chair of the Section’s International Antitrust Law Committee; and Co-Chair of the Section’s International Pro Bono Committee. He has received the Section’s Lifetime Achievement Award (August 2011) and its Leonard J. Theberge Award in recognition of sustained and outstanding service in the field of private international law (April 2019).

Mr. Byowitz currently serves as Treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Bar Foundation (ABF), a leading research institute that conducts empirical research at the intersection of law and the social sciences.  He is a Past Chair of the Fellows of the ABF, was previously New York State Co-Chair of the Fellows, and has received the Fellows Outstanding State Co-Chair Award.

Mr. Byowitz has been active in the New York City Bar, where he has served on the Executive Committee and chaired its subcommittee evaluating Elena Kagan’s qualifications to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.  He is a former Chair of the City Bar’s Council on International Affairs and its Antitrust & Trade Regulation Committee. Mr. Byowitz is also an honorary lifetime member of AIJA (International Association of Young Lawyers).