Preston Miller, a Partner in the Firm’s Washington, D.C. office, has extensive experience obtaining regulatory clearances from domestic and international competition authorities for high-profile, often cross-border, transactions across a wide variety of industries. In addition to guiding numerous transactions through extensive regulatory reviews to a successful clearance and closing, Preston has worked on some of the most significant merger challenges of the last decade and has prevailed against both the DOJ (UHG/Change Healthcare) and FTC (Tempur Sealy/Mattress Firm) in court. Preston has been recognized by both Chambers USA and The Legal 500 U.S. for his antitrust counseling on complex corporate transactions. He is described in The Legal 500 as “such a strong lawyer that partners from other firms routinely acknowledge the benefits of having him on the other side as someone who will be efficient, practical, friendly and able to lead a very strong case.” Preston has also been recognized on Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under List” in 2024, and as a “DC Rising Star” by The National Law Journal in 2023.
His key matters include:
- Amedisys in it’s proposed acquisition by UnitedHealth Group for $3.3 billion, which has been challenged by DOJ
- Mattress Firm Group Inc. in its acquisition by Tempur Sealy International, Inc., including successful litigation against the FTC in federal court, and which was shortlisted for “Merger Control Matter of the Year – Americas” at Global Competition Review’s 2024 GCR Awards
- Change Healthcare in its $13.8 billion acquisition by UnitedHealth Group, which won the Impact Case Award at Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation Awards 2024, and was named “Merger Control Matter of the Year – Americas” at Global Competition Review’s 2023 GCR Awards
- L3 Technologies in connection with the antitrust review of its $33.5 billion merger of equals combination with Harris Corporation, including the successful divestiture of assets to resolve concerns
- Daimler and Chrysler’s $1.1 billion formation of a mobility services joint venture, including coordination of responses to Second Requests issued to both parties
- Melrose Industries’ takeover of public company GKN for £8 billion, in the biggest U.K. hostile takeover since 2009
- Office Depot in connection with its proposed $6.3 billion acquisition by Staples, challenged by the FTC and ultimately prohibited by US District Court.
- Numerous transactions cleared after receiving a Second Request in the United States, including Siltronic’s proposed $5.3 billion acquisition by GlobalWafers; TRW’s $13.5 billion acquisition by ZF; and more.
Preston is a co-author of Simpson Thacher’s annual Merger Report. He has been quoted in media outlets such as Law360 and CFTN. He earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Genetics and B.A. in Philosophy from University of Maryland. He is admitted to practice in Washington, D.C. and New York.
