Antitrust Magazine Panel: Defense Views on State Enforcement

• Pages: 41-54
• Date: 01 July 2025
• Published date: 01 July 2025

SUMMER 2025 · 41

Antitrust Magazine Panel:

Defense Views on State Enforcement

MR. LIPMAN: Hi, everybody. Welcome to today’s roundta-

ble, where we will be discussing all aspects of preparing for

or defending against state attorneys general investigations

and litigation in the antitrust and consumer protection

space.

Let me quickly introduce our panelists. We have Trish

Conners, who is a shareholder at Stearns Weaver Miller,

where she advises both plaintiffs and defendants on areas

including antitrust, competition, and consumer protection.

Before joining Stearns Weaver she served under seven attor-

neys general in various senior executive positions in the Flor-

ida Attorney General’s Office. One of those positions was

Director of Antitrust and Complex Enforcement; another

was Chief Deputy, where she supervised over 1100 employ-

ees. She was the first woman to be appointed as Chair of the

Multistate Antitrust Task Force of the National Association

of Attorneys General.

We also have Vic Domen, who is a partner at DLA Piper,

practicing in government antitrust investigations. Vic previ-

ously worked for the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office,

where he was its Senior Antitrust Counsel for nearly twenty

years as the lead lawyer in investigations and prosecutions of

federal and state antitrust matters brought on behalf of the

state of Tennessee. He is also a past Chair of the National

Association of Attorneys General Multistate Antitrust Task

Force, where he organized and led antitrust efforts of state

attorneys general and joint efforts with federal and interna-

tional antitrust enforcement agencies.

Diane Hazel is a partner in the Denver office of Foley &

Lardner LLP and a former government lawyer and enforcer.

Prior to joining Foley, Diane served as a First Assistant

MODERATOR PANELISTS

Eric Lipman

Editor, Antitrust

Magazine

Patricia A. Conners

Shareholder, Stearns

Weaver Miller

Diane Hazel

Partner, Foley &

Lardner, LLP

Meghan Stoppel

Of Counsel, Foley &

Lardner, LLP

Vic Domen

Partner, DLA Piper

US, LLP

Attorney General at the Colorado Attorney General’s Office,

where she was head of the Antitrust Unit. Diane also was an

attorney at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of

Competition Health Care Division. During her tenure at

the FTC, Diane was awarded a Fulbright Grant from the

U.S. State Department and spent a year in Namibia work-

ing with the Namibian government on antitrust and con-

sumer protection matters.

Finally, we have Meghan Stoppel, who is Of Counsel at

Foley & Lardner, where she counsels clients through state

attorney general investigations and enforcement actions in a

variety of industries, including education, financial services,

healthcare, hospitality, pharmaceuticals, and telecommuni-

cations. Prior to entering private practice, Meghan served

as Chief of the Consumer Protection Division in the Office

of the Nebraska Attorney General and also served in the

Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division of the Kansas

Attorney General’s Office.

As you can see, we have folks who know a little bit about

the topics we are going to be discussing. Thank you all for

making yourselves available. Let’s kick off.

Setting the stage, can you briefly describe the contexts in

which state AGs generally interact with companies in the

antitrust space and maybe give some examples of investi-

gations that you all have been involved in, either from the

AG’s side or now on the defense side? Trish, do you want to

take that one first?

MS. CONNERS: Sure. Thanks for the opportunity. I appre-

ciate being with you guys and seeing some of my old friends

from state AG land.