DOJ Names Edward E. McNally as Monitor for T-Mobile/Sprint Merger

Edward E. McNally, a former U.S. Attorney, veteran of the transition team for President Donald Trump’s first term, and a longtime partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP in New York with a distinguished record of public service and antitrust practice, has been appointed by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington to serve as the Monitoring Trustee for the $26 billion T-Mobile/Sprint merger.  In this appointment, which was approved by the United States District Court in an Order issued late last night, Mr. McNally will be charged by the Department and by the Court to monitor and oversee the parties’ compliance with their obligations to remedy any anticompetitive effects of the merger.  With the DOJ and Court appointment, Mr. McNally will be replacing and succeeding the current Monitoring Trustee, Ted Ullyot, who was the first General Counsel at Facebook, and who was announced at the end of March as the new General Counsel for the National Football League.  Previously, Mr. McNally served as the most senior outside counsel for Mr. Ullyot during his time as Monitoring Trustee.
 
The Justice Department’s appointment of Mr. McNally was filed in the United States District Court in Washington, DC, pursuant to the April 1, 2020 Final Judgment that was issued in the case captioned as U.S. v. Deutsche Telekom AG, Civ. No. 19-cv-2232 (D.D.C.),  which at the time of the approval, was and remains an industry-altering merger, combining the third and fourth largest national wireless carries, valued at approximately $26.5 billion.  The motion was granted late Wednesday night in an Order issued by the Hon. Timothy J. Kelly, United States District Court Judge for the District of Columbia. 
 
In its motion, the Justice Department advised the Court that Mr. McNally “has had a distinguished career in public service leading large legal organizations” and that he is “well-qualified to succeed Mr. Ullyot as Monitoring Trustee.”  Mr. McNally is a former United States Attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney who, following the September 11th attacks, was appointed by the President as the nation’s first General Counsel for homeland security and counterterrorism at the White House.  Mr. McNally has more than three decades of Justice Department and other enforcement, compliance and monitoring experience, including in the leadership at Criminal Division headquarters at DOJ, in the Office of the Counsel to the President of the United States, and as an AUSA in the Southern District of New York (SDNY).  His prior appointments also include service as a Presidential Speechwriter, as the first Luce Scholar in China, and as the District Attorney in Anchorage, Alaska.  Mr. McNally is a graduate of Yale and the University of Notre Dame Law School.
 
The Justice Department motion also notes that, “[a]s a partner at the Kasowitz Benson Torres law firm, Mr. McNally’s trial and appellate practice includes matters in the antitrust, compliance, corporate governance, internal investigations, government relations, commercial disputes, and litigation fields, including matters in the telecommunications, technology, manufacturing, and retail sectors.”  In this work, Mr. McNally has appeared in courts throughout the U.S. and served as an advisor to seven U.S. Attorneys General, CEOs, and companies and executives across the country.