David C. Kully
Partner
Overview
David C. Kully is an antitrust attorney in Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office. Mr. Kully leads Holland & Knight's Antitrust Team and is a member of the firm's Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice. He has extensive antitrust experience and joined the firm in 2016 after an 18-year career with the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division.
Mr. Kully's practice focuses on antitrust litigation, civil and criminal antitrust investigations by the antitrust enforcement agencies, and counseling clients on the requirements of the antitrust laws. Among other litigation work, Mr. Kully defends clients in bet-the-company class action antitrust litigation. He engages regularly with representatives of the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
While at the DOJ, Mr. Kully served as chief of the Antitrust Division's Litigation III Section from 2013 to 2016 and as assistant chief from 2008 to 2013 in addition to holding central roles on many of the Antitrust Division's most significant matters, achieving a consistent track record of success. For his work on challenges to credit card "anti-steering" rules and to an e-books price-fixing conspiracy, Mr. Kully and his teams were honored with the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service, the DOJ's second-highest performance award.
Before joining the DOJ, Mr. Kully was in private practice at the Washington, D.C., office of a large international law firm. From there, he was recruited to participate as counsel in a special investigation conducted by the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee into campaign finance irregularities that arose during the 1996 federal election cycle.
Representative Experience
- Defending a real estate franchise company against class action antitrust claims alleging a conspiracy to inflate commissions, resulting in harm to home buyers
- Defending a real estate franchise company against claim of group boycott of Utah-based real estate broker
- Representing two multi-family apartment owners in a case alleging "collusion by algorithm" based on use by competitors of the same pricing software
- Defending a PVC manufacturer against claims of price fixing via a hub-and-spoke conspiracy facilitated by an industry reporting service
- Defending a manufactured home community manager against claims of price fixing via a hub-and-spoke conspiracy facilitated by an industry reporting service
- Representing a yacht brokerage association in a class action case alleging conspiracy among yacht brokers, yacht listing services and yacht brokerage associations to inflate yacht brokerage commissions
- Defended a real estate franchise company against class action antitrust claims alleging a conspiracy to inflate commissions, resulting in harm to home sellers
- Obtained dismissals of two multi-family apartment developers from class action antitrust challenges to rent-setting practices
- Defended a client against antitrust group boycott claims brought by rival political organization
- Defended a client against monopolization and related claims brought by rival contractor
- Pursued attempted monopolization and breach of contract claims on behalf of financial services client against dominant rival
- United States v. Apple, Inc., et al., 12-cv-2826 (S.D.N.Y.): Litigated to judgment in 2013; Apple's petition for certiorari denied in 2016
- United States v. AB Electrolux, et al., No. 15-cv-1039 (D.D.C.): Litigated through full trial to abandonment by merging parties in 2015
- Investigation into potential modifications to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) consent decrees; investigation concluded in 2016 with decision not to seek modifications to the ASCAP or BMI consent decrees
- United States v. Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc., et al., No. 10-cv-0139 (D.D.C.): Consent decree entered in 2010
- United States v. National Association of Realtors, No. 05-c-5140 (N.D. Ill.): Litigated to eve of trial; resolved with consent decree entered in 2008
Credentials
- Cornell Law School, J.D., magna cum laude
- Dartmouth College, B.A., Economics
- District of Columbia
- American Bar Association, Antitrust Law Section, Books and Treatises Committee, 2024-2025; Long-Range and Strategic Planning Committee, 2022-2024
- Steering Committee, Antitrust Community of the District of Columbia Bar, 2017-2023
- American Bar Association, Antitrust Section; Editorial Board Chair, Annual Review of Antitrust Law Developments (2018, 2019 and 2020 editions)
- The Best Lawyers in America guide, Antitrust Law, 2025
- Who's Who Legal: Competition, 2023, 2024
- Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service, U.S. Department of Justice, 2015, 2016
- John Marshall Award for Participation in Litigation, U.S. Department of Justice, 2009
- Order of the Coif, 1994
- Editor, Cornell Law Review, 1994
