Richard O. Levine

Richard Levine has been of counsel to Constantine Cannon since December 2005. Mr. Levine focuses on the development of administrative and legislative solutions to competitive problems in “network” industries.

Mr. Levine has over 30 years’ experience in the government and the private sector addressing complex legal, policy, and business issues at the intersection of antitrust law and regulation in environments of rapid technological change.

Since joining Constantine Cannon, Mr. Levine has assisted clients in multiple litigation and regulatory arenas. Engagements include:

• For multiple merchants, developed and participated in litigation and administrative challenges to fines and assessments imposed by card networks and their member banks arising from alleged payment card data breaches.
• For an international airline, participated in multiyear defense of a class action lawsuit alleging a price fixing conspiracy.
• For a national trucking association, developed a legal strategy and participated in district court and appellate proceedings with respect to a successful injunctive challenge to imposition by the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach of burdensome “concession” mechanisms on motor carriers engaged in interstate commerce to and from the Ports.
• For multiple clients, developed arguments and data to oppose anticompetitive merger transactions.
• For a national trucking association and a member intermodal motor carrier, successfully filed and settled a complaint at the Federal Maritime Commission against an international ocean carrier alleging violations of the Shipping Act. The FMC’s approval of the settlement was the first instance in which the FMC provided motor carriers with a forum for contesting ocean carrier conduct.
• For a broadcasters’ trade association, undertook an assessment of the potential for intervention in support of emerging applications of digital technologies to increase the value of over-the-air broadcasting in an era of digital transmission.
• For a major telecommunications carrier, developed an assessment of the Constitutionality of local franchise legislation regarding the provision of video services by incumbent broadband network operators.

During 1974-1985 Mr. Levine served first as an attorney, and then Deputy Director and Director of the Office of Policy Planning in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. During 1980-85, his main focus was on development of relief scenarios in US v. AT&T, and assisting in the drafting and implementation of the AT&T divestiture decree, including supporting Assistant Attorney General William Baxter’s opposition to Administration efforts to compel a non-divestiture solution to the AT&T litigation.

After leaving the Antitrust Division, he provided consulting advice to North American telecommunications providers, electric utilities, and broadcasters regarding regulatory, market, and technology issues as they affected strategic business decisions, including entry into new markets. He also has assisted carriers and government organizations in Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Latin America, and Eastern Europe concerning issues arising from the development of telecommunications competition.

Representative engagements include:

• For multiple electric utilities, developed strategic and regulatory assessments regarding the integration of telecommunications into utility business models; these assessments addressed the potential of telecommunications to support grid management, facilitate end-user demand management, and as a means of generating income and strengthening utility-customer relationships.
• For incumbent local exchange carriers, provided expert support regarding antitrust litigation arising from network unbundling obligations and from their provision of long distance services in competition with carriers to whom they provided network access services.
• For a Korean mobile wireless operator seeking to reverse a decision of the Korean Fair Trade Commission approving a wireless industry merger, prepared analyses for submission to the KFTC regarding how the contested merger would have be treated under US and EU/UK competition laws, and regarding the strengths and weaknesses of remedies that could be adopted by the KFTC to undo the effects of the merger.
• In conjunction with a contract dispute between a systems integration provider and a major telecommunications carrier concerning a minimum purchase obligation, prepared an analysis of whether a “fundamental change” had occurred in the telecommunications industry between 1999 and 2002.
• For an international satellite consortium, supported the efforts of a working group developing its post-privatization distribution strategy; developed an analysis of the customer proprietary information requirements necessary to support establishment of a retail distribution organization; and analyzed the regulatory implications of most-favored-customer wholesale contract provisions and the organizational procedures necessary to implement those provisions.

Mr. Levine is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and has a J. D. degree from the Harvard Law School and a B. A. (economics) from Columbia University.

He is a co-author of Digital Television in a Digital Society: Opportunities for Broadcasters (1998) and Updated Edition (2002); Trends in the Competitiveness of Telecommunications Markets: Implications for Deregulation of Retail Local Services (2003); The Myths and Realities of Universal Service: Revisiting the Justification for the Current Subsidy Structure (2005); and Interconnection Without Regulation: Lessons for Telecommunications Reform from Four Network Industries (2005).