Kate E. Gehl

Kate E. Gehl is a senior counsel and antitrust lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP, where she is a member of the Antitrust Practice Group. Kate provides strategic counsel to national and international clients in the areas of antitrust litigation and investigations, including the defense of clients in numerous purported price fixing and market allocation class actions.  

Kate supports clients in connection with a broad range of antitrust and compliance issues in several industries, including technology, manufacturing, life sciences, and health care. Kate’s practice focuses on both investigations and litigation, along with providing antitrust guidance related to intellectual property licensing, including licensing practices related to standard essential patents and patent pools, participation in trade associations, industry organizations and standard setting organizations, product distribution and supply chain logistics, joint ventures and commercial agreements, collaborations with competitors, and general antitrust compliance. Kate also has particular experience litigating antitrust issues that arise in the context of patent infringement litigation or other disputes involving intellectual property. 

Kate also maintains a practice representing businesses in complex commercial litigation. She has significant experience in complex electronic discovery and has worked with experts to develop reports and testimony, and she has written briefs and motions at all stages of litigation in federal and state courts across the country. 

Prior to joining Foley, Kate was a judicial clerk for the Honorable J.P. Stadtmueller, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and worked as a law clerk for the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in Washington, D.C.

Education

• University of Minnesota Law School (J.D., magna cum laude)
• The University of Wisconsin – Madison (B.A., with distinction)

Publications

Kate regularly publishes and speaks on antitrust and compliance issues. The following represents a sampling of her work:

• Co-presenter, “Fundamentals of Antitrust” for the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Summer Series (June 14, 2022)
• Author, “USPTO, NIST, and DOJ Antitrust Division Withdraw SEP Injunction Policy Statement,” Innovative Technology Insights (June 14, 2022)
• Author, “Biden’s DOJ Signals Return to Pre-Trump Administration Standard Essential Patent Policies,” Foley Insights (October 12, 2021)
• Co-author, “Legal Implications of Blockchain in Supply Chain Series: What’s Law Got to Do With It?” Blockchain in Supply Chain Blog (October 7, 2021)
• Co-author, “A Divided FTC Approves Omnibus Resolutions to Step Up Enforcement Actions and Votes to Withdraw the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines,” Foley Insights (September 24, 2021)
• Co-author, “President Biden’s Executive Order on Competition Could Mean Broad Changes Across a Range of Industries,” Foley Insights (July 14, 2021)
• Co-author, “Biden’s Executive Order on Competition Could Spell Changes for the Pharmaceutical Industry,” PharmaPatents Blog (July 6, 2021)
• Co-presenter, “Fundamentals – Intellectual Property,” for the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Virtual Spring Meeting (May 11, 2020)
• Co-presenter, “Antitrust Update” for the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Corporate Counseling Committee (February 24, 2020)
• Co-presenter, “Ripped from the Headlines – Antitrust News You Can Use” (December 14, 2020)
• Co-presenter, “Antitrust Counseling for Trade Associations,” (December 9, 2020)
• Co-author, “DOJ and USPTO Revise 2013 Policy Statement on Remedies for Standard Essential Patents,” Foley Insights (March 31, 2020)
• Co-presenter, ““What Every Lawyer Should Know About the Intersection of Antitrust and Intellectual Property Rights” (December 10, 2019)
• Co-Author, “DOJ and FTC Signal Shifts in Antitrust Enforcement of Essential Patent Disputes,” Foley Insights (October 10, 2018)
• Co-Author, “DOJ and FTC issue Updated Antitrust Guidelines on the Licensing of Intellectual Property,” Foley Insights (January 20, 2017)
• Editor, “Indirect Purchaser Litigation Handbook,” ABA Publications (2015)
• Co-author, State Antitrust Practice and Statutes, Fifth Edition (Wisconsin Law Chapter), ABA Publications (2014) 
• Presenter, Annual Law of Product Distribution & Franchise Seminars (various antitrust topics)

Recongination

Kate has been recognized on the Wisconsin Super Lawyers – Rising Stars® list for 2019

Admissions

In addition to the state courts in Wisconsin, Kate is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third, Seventh and Eighth Circuits. 

Professional Memberships

Kate currently serves as a vice chair of the ABA Antitrust Law Section Intellectual Property Committee and previously worked as a young lawyer representative on the Intellectual Property Committee and the Trade, Sports and Professional Associations Committee. Kate is an active member of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, the Milwaukee Bar Association, the Eastern District Of Wisconsin Bar Association, and the Association for Women Lawyers. Kate also previously served on the board of directors for the Milwaukee Young Lawyers Association and is a former member of the Thomas E. Fairchild American Inn of Court. 

Community Engagment

Kate is actively involved in pro bono representation, regularly volunteering her time at the Milwaukee Justice Center at the Milwaukee County Courthouse and with the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association’s Federal Legal Assistance Program. Kate has also worked with victims of human trafficking, assisting those victims with seeking vacatur relief for crimes committed as a result of their exploitation as trafficking victims.