Robert Atkins has been a trial lawyer in the Litigation Department at Paul, Weiss for 35 years, and is a former co-chair of the Litigation Department and member of the firm’s Management Committee. Antitrust and unfair competition litigation has been a major part of Atkins’s practice for over two decades.
Atkins has a nationwide practice trying cases and arguing appeals, primarily in the areas of antitrust, mass torts and consumer deception, as well as high-stakes corporate and commercial litigations. His work spans numerous industries and businesses, including medical devices and pharmaceuticals. He appears in state and federal courts across the country, including currently California, Florida, New York, Texas, Delaware, North Carolina, New Jersey, Michigan and Washington. Atkins has argued appeals in the Second, Third, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, as well as many state appellate courts.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2027 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2027 | Antitrust & Competition Litigation, Appeals |
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers | 2026 | Antitrust & Competition Litigation, Appeals |
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2026 | Antitrust & Competition Litigation, Appeals |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers | 2025 | Antitrust & Competition Litigation, Appeals |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2025 | Antitrust & Competition Litigation, Appeals |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2024 | Antitrust & Competition Litigation, Appeals |
| Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2022 | Antitrust & Competition Litigation, Appeals |
Atkins represents medical device manufacturer Becton Dickinson (BD) in competitor antitrust lawsuits and government investigations. Atkins was lead trial counsel for BD in a jury trial in Tyler, Texas involving antitrust and consumer deception claims, where he secured a defense verdict on 11 of 12 counts and then won the appeal in the Fifth Circuit on the 12th count for attempted monopolization by deception. Atkins also led the Paul, Weiss team in the complete dismissal, with prejudice, of an antitrust class action against BD in which a putative class of all U.S. hospital and healthcare providers alleged conspiracy with the distributors of its products to inflate the prices of syringes and IV catheters by excluding competitors from the market.
Atkins was trial counsel for medical device manufacturer Bard in an antitrust jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, where our team helped secure a complete defense verdict rejecting the plaintiff’s damages claim.
Atkins represents Uber in thousands of tort lawsuits in California and around the country involving the Uber ridesharing app. He is also currently representing an American Healthcare Company in several class action antitrust lawsuits alleging a conspiracy to fix the price of pharmaceuticals.
He also represents IBM in trade secret and unfair competition lawsuits and government investigations, and is IBM’s lead trial counsel in several nine-figure commercial litigations. Other significant clients include Novo Nordisk (the world’s largest diabetes care company), Revlon (the cosmetics company), and Roark Capital Group (the Atlanta-based private equity firm).
Atkins also defends product liability and deception lawsuits in several industries. His representations have included:
- Mitsubishi Motors Corp. in investigations and litigations related to allegedly defective airbags.
- Boeing against design defect claims in the multi-billion dollar property damage lawsuits arising from the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11.
- Revlon in product liability lawsuits involving allegations that certain cosmetics contain cancer-causing agents.
- Take-Two Interactive in dismissing wrongful death and strict liability claims against the creator of the Grand Theft Auto video game.
- FieldTurf in product defect and consumer fraud class actions and related investigations.