Megan E. Jones
she / her / hers
Megan Jones (@MeganJonesEsq), Co-Chair of the firm's Antitrust practice group, is a California Bay Area-based lawyer who focuses on recovering damages for companies who are victims of antitrust cartels for price-fixing, tying, restraints of trade, and other competition violations. With 19 years of experience in antitrust class actions, Megan is trusted by courts to lead large and complex antitrust cases:
Megan is known for her creativity on settlement issues.[1] For example, in In re Municipal Derivatives Antitrust Litigation (S.D.N.Y.), Ms. Jones was co-lead counsel and recovered over $220 million dollars for a class of cities and municipalities. Notably, Ms. Jones co-negotiated several of the settlements obtained in that class with Select State Attorneys General, who trusted class counsel to administer notice and the claims process for the joint proceeds. The American Antitrust Institute recognized this unusual public/private partnership, and awarded Megan (and her team) the “Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice” in 2016. Other settlements Ms. Jones negotiated include:
As one of the few women in the plaintiffs’ bar inducted into the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for continued excellence in litigation, Ms. Jones has a national reputation for excellence that has been obtained the old-fashioned way, by trying to be the best team member in the trenches. See “Female Powerbrokers Q&A: Hausfeld's Megan Jones,” April 30, 2014; see also Chambers and Partners’ description of Ms. Jones as “personable, very smart and capable.” She is known for creating effective multi-firm teams that focus with laser-like precision on the specific litigation strategy designed with input from diverse sources. She is also known for her relentless pursuit of the facts, and is well-regarded for her electronic discovery prowess (speaking and training others on best practices via the prestigious Sedona Conference®).
Whether leading enormous cases with 20+ defendants or small regional matters, Ms. Jones masters the intricacies of economic markets and works with experts to develop economic models for her clients’ recovery, which support class certification motions, settlement negotiations, and discovery efforts. Megan prides herself on the ability to create and lead teams of lawyers of any size (having organized teams of 80 law firms, in one particular case) to create a record that either wins the case, drives settlement, and /or obtains a decision upheld at the appellate level. Part of Megan’s success is due to her belief in using diverse and inclusive litigation teams, which she has helped foster over a decade by creating and running a conference for women antitrust lawyers to exchange best practices.
Megan is both reasonable and relentless. She carefully chooses her legal battles, and eschews gamesmanship for the sake of gamesmanship. Mindful of scarce judicial resources in complex antitrust cases that can last years, she develops a strategy at the outset about what particular legal issues need judicial attention and clears the board of the rest. She is highly respected from all contingents because she brings that same strategy to settlements, using her almost two decades of negotiation experience from being at Hausfeld to craft settlement strategy and terms in even the most difficult cases. Just one example of this creativity is that in one of her cases, Megan worked with and joined Select State Attorneys General to co-negotiate and jointly settle a class claim on behalf of certain states as well as the civil litigation class.
[1] https://podcast.ourcuriousamalgam.com/episode/48-how-do-you-get-to-the-final-yes/ (ABA’s Antitrust Section podcast, featuring Megan Jones, May 2020).
Clients
Companies that buy things to make things have typically bought cartelized products, and Megan helps them recover damages for such purchases. Able to analyze a corporation’s purchases around the world, Megan can then offer a panoply of options for recovery in multiple jurisdictions. She emphasizes the non- litigation options a corporation has when appropriate, and she is as adept at settling a case in a conference room as she is in a courtroom.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, J.D., 1999
North Carolina State University, magna cum laude, B.A., 1995
California
District of Columbia
North Carolina
American Antitrust Institute, Board of Directors
American Bar Association - Antitrust Section, Appointed Council Member (2021-22)
American Bar Assocation - Antitrust Section's Communications and Digital Technology Industries Committee, Vice Chair
American Bar Association - Antitrust Section's Global Private Litigation Committee Invited Member of the Leadership Team (2019-Present)
American Bar Assocation - Antitrust Section's Global Private Litigation Committee, Vice Chair
American Bar Association - Antitrust Section's Media and Technology Committee, Vice Chair
Forum on Antitrust Litigation, Chairwoman
HiPower Alumni Network, Ring 7
Incubator for Women Leaders, The Club, Silicon Valley
The Sedona Conference®, Member
Women Antitrust Plaintiffs’ Attorney Network Group, Founder
American Antitrust Institute
Benchmark Litigation
"Megan Jones in the San Francisco office has been identified by several peers as 'a leader at Hausfeld now.'" (Benchmark Litigation, Dispute Resolution, 2021)
Best Lawyers
Chambers
A source reported that, "Megan excels in any project or task she takes on." (Chambers Antitrust: Mainly Plaintiff – California, 2021)
Megan Jones deftly represents plaintiffs in significant anticompetitive disputes. She has expertise in cases concerning price fixing and trade restraints." The publication also noted that "Megan Jones is commended for her expertise in representing corporate plaintiffs in cartel recovery actions. She is further noted for her work leading large class action cases. Sources state that 'Megan is a very good, diligent lawyer who considers the big picture.'" (Chambers Antitrust: Mainly Plaintiff – California, 2020)
Megan is "personable, very smart and really capable," and "well respected at the California Bar for her plaintiff-side antitrust practice." (Chambers Antitrust: Mainly Plaintiff – California, 2019)
Global Competition Review
Law360
Lawdragon
Legal 500
"Megan Jones is a superstar – creative, thoughtful, dynamic." (Legal 500 US, Antitrust - Civil Litigation/Class Actions, 2024)
"In San Francisco, Megan Jones stands out for her expertise in antitrust cartels, regularly procuring settlements for clients." (Legal 500 US, Antitrust - Civil Litigation/Class Actions, 2021)
Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal)
"Megan is a smart and aggressive plaintiffs' counsel who has led many cases and obtained excellent results." (Who's Who Legal, Competition - Plaintiff 2023)
"The 'incredibly talented' Megan Jones is singled out by peers as 'a true leader' and is widely endorsed as 'one of the very best plaintiff counsel'." (Who’s Who Legal, Competition - Plaintiff - Legal Marketplace Analysis, 2022)
"The 'fantastic' Megan Jones is a distinguished figure in the North American competition market. Sources describe her as a 'future leader' of the field who 'is blazing a trail for younger women in the profession,' and is highly respected from all contingents." (Who’s Who Legal, Competition - Plaintiff - Legal Marketplace Analysis, 2020)
A "trailblazer" who is "highly respected from all contingents" with "extraordinary depth of expertise in cartel-related matters." (Who’s Who Legal, Competition - Plaintiff - Legal Marketplace Analysis, 2018)
National Law Journal
Super Lawyers
Other