Wells Harrell
Principal | Kaihautū

BA (Carleton College), JD (University of Virginia)

Contact
jwh@lcc.co.nz

 

Wells is an accomplished litigator and competition law specialist, with a wealth of experience representing public sector clients in relation to government investigations and enforcement actions. His representations include advising and litigating for Crown entities in a wide range of public law matters.

Wells qualified as a barrister and solicitor in New Zealand after practicing law for over twelve years in the United States. He joined Luke Cunningham Clere from the US Federal Trade Commission, where he served as an attorney advisor to Chair Lina M. Khan, a counsel to three Directors of the Bureau of Competition, and a staff attorney in two enforcement divisions. In those roles, Wells advised on competition policy, negotiated settlements, coordinated with other law enforcement agencies, and litigated enforcement actions to block unlawful mergers and remedy anticompetitive conduct. He joined the FTC from private practice, having litigated in trial and appellate courts across the US in cases involving antitrust, civil rights, intellectual property, securities law, and constitutional law.

Wells began his legal career as a judge's clerk in a US federal district court. In law school he interned at the US Department of Justice, served as an articles editor on the school's flagship law journal, and worked on several cases before the US Supreme Court.

Recent and notable work:

  • Representing the Commerce Commission in an ongoing appeal against its input methodology decisions for gas pipeline businesses regulated by Part 4 of the Commerce Act 1986 - First Gas Ltd v Commerce Commission

  • Representing the Climate Change Commission in an ongoing challenge to its advice on emissions reductions under the Climate Change Response Act 2002 - Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc v Climate Change Commission

  • Represented the US Federal Trade Commission in an enforcement action alleging unfair methods of competition by a multinational ecommerce platform - FTC v Amazon.com, Inc

  • Represented the US Federal Trade Commission in successful challenges to block mergers in the biosciences and healthcare industries - FTC v Illumina & Grail, FTC v Hackensack Meridian Health & Englewood Healthcare

  • Represented a public hospital system in an enforcement action by the US Department of Justice alleging unlawful restraints of trade, which resolved by settlement - US v Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority

  • Represented a civil rights organisation supporting the defence of a local council's housing policy reforms that relaxed exclusionary zoning restrictions - Nordgren v County Board of Arlington, Virginia

  • Representing a former federal employee as lead counsel in an action alleging disability discrimination by her agency, which resolved by settlement - Lenkiewicz v Castro