Barbara Sicalides is leader of the antitrust and trade regulation practice and partner at the law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP. Ms. Sicalides built her law practice upon understanding the business goals of her clients and working with the managers and their reports to identify, design and implement strategies consistent with the antitrust laws in the United States and abroad.
For over 23 years, Ms. Sicalides has been an antitrust counselor to business teams and fiduciary duty advisor to management and boards. Key to her antitrust counselor role has been to listen closely and understand the goals of the business and large amounts of complex information about the various products, businesses and markets in which those businesses participate. Ms. Sicalides has developed successfully over one hundred strategic solutions to permit companies to achieve their lawful goals while minimizing their legal risks.
Internal investigations have been an important part of Barbara’s litigation and non-litigation work. She has organized, managed, and implemented internal investigations arising out of shareholder demands, questions raised by management, government inquiries, and as part of compliance audits. Ms. Sicalides has used the experience and results of such investigations to guide clients not only through the events triggering the investigation but also to improve future performance and minimize future risks.
In Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business: The Client’s Guide, clients describe Ms. Sicalides as having “an excellent head for business and offer[ing] practical legal advice,” ”very smart, knows the right questions to ask and doesn’t over-complicate things.” “She has good judgment is highly practical, has a good perspective on when to fight or not, and is both smart and savvy.”
Her diverse industry experience includes specialty metals, new motor vehicles and related products, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, semi-conductors, building products, animal supply distribution, packaged foods, medical devices, industrial equipment, fashion, software, financial services, and hospital services. Ms. Sicalides began her career managing a small business, before receiving her legal training.
In addition to Ms. Sicalides’s productive law practice, she has worked tirelessly
in the Philadelphia non-profit community and has extensive experience with philanthropic board service. Presently, she is serving as a director of Community Legal Services, Inc. (CLS), Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA), and the Committee of Seventy. She is the immediate past president of the boards of CLS and PLA and currently serves as a member of the Board Development, Sustainability, and Finance Committees for both organizations. She is also on the Alumnae Executive Board of the Baldwin School, her alma mater, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Previously Ms. Sicalides served as the President of the Board of Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Indigent, replacing its Executive Director and restoring it to financial health and reputation.
Ms. Sicalides is an avid public speaker who is frequently called upon to share her insights regarding compliance programs, distribution network design and restraints, government regulatory activities, and various antitrust issues, including mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property licensing, and dominance matters.
Barbara is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, is highly rated in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, and has repeatedly been selected for inclusion on the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers and Top 50 Women Pennsylvania Super Lawyers lists.