A specialized class of 'stealth' law firms helps corporations hide mergers from antitrust regulators by gaming reporting thresholds.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
Stealth Law: Legal Intermediaries and Antitrust Enforcement
SSRN · 6469998
The Takeaway
While most assume lawyers help companies follow the law, this study identifies firms that specialize in exploiting legal blind spots to avoid federal reporting requirements. Mergers handled by these firms often lead to higher prices for consumers, suggesting they successfully shield anti-competitive deals from government oversight.
From the abstract
We study the role of legal intermediaries in reducing M&A firms' exposure to antitrust scrutiny. U.S. regulators require deal reporting based on two thresholds related to transaction and parties' sizes. We define "Stealth" law firms that appear to specialize in nonreporting at both thresholds. Stealth law firms that handle deals priced just below the lower transaction size threshold are also 19.2% more likely to handle non-reported deals in the middle range, where notification depends on the