Photo of Ilene Knable Gotts

Ilene Knable Gotts

Partner, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz

212-403-1247IKGotts@wlrk.com

51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019

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Ilene Knable Gotts is a partner in the New York City law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where she focuses on antitrust matters, particularly relating to mergers and acquisitions. Transactions in which Mrs. Gotts advised include Veolia/Clean Earth, Compass/Anywhere Realty, Danone/Kate Farm, Jazz Pharmaceuticals/Chimerix, OpenAI/IO, Salesforce/Informatica, FIS/GTCR, Arconic/Apollo/Irenic Management, Meritor/Cummins, Creative Artists Agency/ICM Partners, II-VI/Coherent, Zendesk/Permira and Hellman & Friedman, Thoma Bravo/RealPage, Mondelēz/Kitchen Hu, Wesco/Anixter, Simon Property/Taubman, Wex/eNett, Mondelēz/Give &Go, Siris Capital/Travelport, UnitedHealth Group/Davita Medical Group, Publicis Groupe/Epsilon, XO Group/WeddingWire, Siris Capital Group/Travelport Worldwide, IFF/Frutarom, Salesforce/Mulesoft, Prysmian/General Cable, Mondelēz/Tate’s Bake Shop, CenturyLink/Level 3, Danone/WhiteWave Foods, Gaming and Leisure Properties/Pinnacle Entertainment, Faiveley/Wabtec, Charter/Time Warner Cable/Bright House, J.M. Smucker’s/Big Heart Pet Brands, Publicis/Sapient, Essilor/PPG Industries, Deutsche Telekom/MetroPCS, ConAgra/Ralcorp, PPG Industries/Georgia Gulf, Aetna/Coventry, and International Paper/Temple-Inland. 

Lawdragon Honors

Honor Year Practice
The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers 2026 Antitrust & Competition, inc. M&A
The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2026 Antitrust
The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America 2026 Antitrust & Competition Law, inc. M&A, Investigations
The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers 2025 Antitrust & Competition, inc. M&A
The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2025 Antitrust
The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America 2025 Antitrust & Competition Law, inc. M&A, Investigations
The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2024 Antitrust
The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America 2024 Antitrust & Competition Law, inc. M&A, Investigations
The Lawdragon Legends of 2023 2023
The 2023 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2023 Antitrust
The 2022 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2022 Antitrust
Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America 2022 Antitrust & Competition Law, inc. M&A, Investigations
The 2021 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2021 Antitrust
The 2020 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2020 Antitrust
The 2019 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2019 Antitrust
The 2018 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2018 Antitrust
The 2017 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2017 Antitrust
The 2016 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2016 Antitrust
The 2014-15 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers 2014-2015 Antitrust
The 2013 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers 2013 Antitrust
The 2012 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers 2012 Antitrust

Gotts previously worked as a staff attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureaus of Competition and Consumer Protection. She has held several leadership positions in the American Bar Association, including serving on the American Bar Association’s Board of Governors from 2015-2018 and as the Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law in 2009-2010. In 2006-2007, Gotts was the Chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Antitrust Section, which recognized her service to the antitrust bar with the Lifland Service Award in 2010; she has been a member of the American Law Institute for over 25 years. Gotts is a frequent guest speaker, has had approximately 200 articles published on antitrust related topics, and served as the editor of the ABA’s Merger Review Process book, Law Business Research’s Private Competition Enforcement Review (2008-2025 Editions) and Law Business Research’s Merger Control Review (2010-2025 Editions). She is a member of the editorial board of The Antitrust CounselorAntitrust Report, and Competition Law International publications. BTI Consulting Group has recognized Gotts as a BTI Client Service All-Star for her level of dedication and commitment to exceptional client service.

Gotts is currently on the Board of Directors of UrbanGlass, the New York City based nonprofit established in 1977, which fosters experimentation and advances the use and critical understanding of glass as a creative medium.