About
Bloom Strategic Counsel PLLC is a Washington, DC based firm offering public policy, government relations, and antitrust analysis and counseling services. It was founded in 2013 by Seth Bloom, the long-time former General Counsel of the U.S. Senate Antitrust Subcommittee. Mr. Bloom is an attorney with nearly three decades of extensive governmental and private sector experience in antitrust and competition law. He possesses substantial experience with the critical regulatory and competition issues facing key industries including telecommunications, media, high tech, and Internet; transportation and aviation; and health care. He was named to The Hill’s “Top Lobbyist” List for 2023. He has also been recognized by Politico as a “top antitrust lobbyist” and an “antitrust guru.”
Bloom Strategic Counsel has represented leading companies in these and other vital industries. These clients have included Amazon, Apple, Comcast NBC Universal, DoorDash, JetBlue, Live Nation Entertainment, Microsoft, Molson Coors, Sprint, Uber, Yelp, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), and the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Since its founding in 2013, Bloom Strategic Counsel has quickly become the “go to” firm for companies in large and complex merger transaction, particularly before Congress. The firm has represented Adobe in the Adobe/Figma merger; JetBlue in connection with its proposed acquisition of Spirit Airlines; Uber with respect to its acquisition of Postmates; Sprint in connection with its merger with T-Mobile; Amazon in connection with its merger with Whole Foods; MillerCoors LLC in connection with the AB InBev/SABMiller merger; Aetna in connection with its proposed merger with Humana; Pfizer in connection with its proposed merger with Allergan; and Comcast in connection with its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable.
Beyond its work for major companies involved in mergers and acquisitions, the firm has represented Amazon on competition and regulatory issues; Apple on competition issues; Comcast on internet and cable competition and regulatory issues; Microsoft on competition, patent reform, and immigration reform issues; Sprint on competition and telecom regulatory issues; Yelp on Internet competition issues; and A2IM on copyright reform, music licensing, and competition issues; among other matters.
Prior to founding Bloom Strategic Counsel, Mr. Bloom spent nearly 14 years in the U.S. Senate on the staff of the Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee until January 2013. He began as a counsel on the Antitrust Subcommittee staff of Sen. Herb Kohl, who served as Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee during Mr. Bloom’s tenure. From 2008 to January 2013, Mr. Bloom served as General Counsel of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee. In August 2012, Mr. Bloom was named to the “Hill Hot List” by National Law Journal/Legal Times as one of the top 15 lawyers working in Congress. Mr. Bloom currently serves on the Advisory Board of the American Antitrust Institute.
Mr. Bloom was responsible for numerous critical antitrust and competition issues that came before the Antitrust Subcommittee during his tenure, from the AOL/Time Warner merger in 2000 to the Comcast/NBC Universal merger in 2010 and the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger in 2011. Mr. Bloom was also the senior staffer on several landmark Antitrust Subcommittee investigations, including its 2011 investigation of allegations that Google was engaged in anticompetitive conduct with respect to Internet search. During his time on the antitrust subcommittee, Mr. Bloom investigated competitive conditions in numerous key industries, including telecom, high tech, media, aviation, health care, energy, and agriculture.
Throughout his tenure in the Senate, Mr. Bloom was known for building relationships on both sides of the political aisle. Referring to the Antitrust Subcommittee’s 2011 review of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger, the Chief Counsel to Ranking Minority Member Sen. Mike Lee, stated in Legal Times that Mr. Bloom “set the tone and the parameters of the debate over the transaction.”
Mr. Bloom has also been frequently been called on to serve as an expert speaker on critical issues of antitrust, competition, telecom, high tech, and health care policy to numerous trade, industry and legal groups, including the American Bar Association Antitrust Section, the American Antitrust Institute, the Capitol Forum, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the Georgetown University Law Center, the Conference of Western Attorneys General, among other organizations.
Bloom Strategic Counsel offers its clients the benefit of Mr. Bloom’s substantive expertise in antitrust and competition law and other policy issues affecting high tech companies, his firsthand knowledge of the key players affecting crucial public policy decisions, and his substantial analysis and advocacy skills. It offers its clients a range of services, including government relations, strategic advice, and legal analysis, counseling and advocacy.