Gibson Dunn Adds Antitrust Partner Andres Font Galarza in Brussels
By Gibson Dunn Crutcher Llp, PRNEThursday, March 11, 2010
BRUSSELS, March 12, 2010 - Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce that Andres Font
Galarza has joined the firm as a partner in the Brussels office. Galarza, a
former senior official in the European Commission's Directorate General for
Competition who joins the firm from Mayer Brown, is particularly known for
his merger expertise and his leading contributions to various antitrust
policy debates, including vertical restrictions and Internet distribution.
"We are very excited about bringing in Andres," said Ken Doran, Managing
Partner of Gibson Dunn. "Our antitrust and competition practice is
increasingly global, and Andres will add to our depth and expertise in
assisting our clients before the European Commission. Andres has an
exceptional reputation in private practice and as a former senior official of
the European Commission's Directorate General for Competition. Our antirust
group is recognized for excellence throughout the world in civil litigation,
criminal investigations and M&A and other administrative matters. Andres'
addition will add to that strength and better position us to meet the needs
of our clients in a seamless manner around the world."
"Andres is extremely well-known and highly regarded in the Brussels
antitrust world," said David Wood, Partner in Charge of the Brussels office.
"He brings us additional capability, particularly in the merger and
distribution fields and complements our strengths in high-tech sectors.
Having worked with Andres when we were both at DG Competition, I know that he
will fit in well with us and continue to grow his already impressive
practice."
"Gibson Dunn has one of the best reputations in the antitrust arena,"
said Galarza. "The firm's superb antitrust practice and its renowned
litigation platform will be of great benefit to my clients."
Gibson Dunn's Brussels office was opened in 2003. Anchored by partners
Peter Alexiadis and David Wood, the Brussels team handle a wide range of
antitrust and regulatory matters, particularly in the IT, telecoms and
financial services sectors.
About Andres Font Galarza
Galarza is a former senior official of the European Commission's
Directorate General for Competition, where he spent 13 years, including three
as Deputy Head of the Unit that was in charge of enforcing EC Competition law
in the sector of consumer goods and foodstuffs. At the Commission, he was
involved in over 300 cases, including 40 merger reviews.
He is experienced in antitrust issues relating to mergers, joint
ventures, distribution issues, monopolisation and cartels. In addition,
Galarza provides strategic and policy advice to clients in regulatory matters
affecting sectors such as consumer good brands, pharmaceuticals, energy,
information and communication technologies (ICT) and the EU internal market
freedoms. He also has comprehensive government experience in seminal ICT
cases (media and music publishing, information industries, consumer
electronics and software) involving complex regulatory issues.
Galarza is a regular lecturer on antitrust and competition matters in
many international forums, has numerous publications with editions in several
languages (English, Spanish, French, Chinese, etc.) and is an author of one
of the leading works on European merger control, "Merger Control in the
European Union. Law, Economics and Practice," (Oxford University, 2005).
Galarza was at the European Commission from 1993 to 2008 and at Mayer
Brown since 2008. He received his LLM from the College of Europe, Bruges in
1991 and his law degree from the University of Valencia in 1986. He is fluent
in English, French and Spanish.
About the Brussels Office
The Brussels office is the hub of the Gibson Dunn's Competition Law
practice in Europe, working alongside the London, Paris and Munich offices
and in close cooperation with our long-established antitrust practice in the
United States, to serve the firm's clients on all aspects of European Union
and EU national competition law, including competition advocacy.
The Brussels office represents clients across all industries in complex
mergers, acquisitions and joint venture clearances before the European
Commission and EU national competition authorities; the defence or
prosecution of actions for the abuse of a dominant position, including
allegations of joint dominance; cartel investigations; the structuring of
various vertical and horizontal relationships for all forms of distribution,
intellectual property licensing and cooperation arrangements; the assessment
of State Aids schemes; and advising on the interface between intellectual
property rights protection and competition rules.
The Brussels office has a leading position in advising both major market
actors and regulators across the European Union in the communications sector
(telecommunications, broadcasting and Information Technology) on the
processes of market definition and market analysis made in accordance with
competition rules. Other network industries where the Brussels office also
has significant experience include the financial services sector, as well as
in the aviation, media, security, and pharmaceutical sectors.
About the Firm
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is a leading international law firm.
Consistently ranking among the world's top law firms in industry surveys and
major publications, Gibson Dunn is distinctively positioned in today's global
marketplace with more than 1,000 lawyers and 16 offices, including Brussels,
Century City, Dallas, Denver, Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York,
Orange County, Palo Alto, Paris, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Singapore, and
Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit
www.gibsondunn.com.
Ken Doran, Managing Partner, +1-213-229-7537, or David Wood, Partner in Charge of the Brussels Office, +32 (0)2-554-72-10, or Pearl Piatt, Director of Communications, +1-213-229-7963, all of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Tags: belgium, Brussels, England, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher Llp, March 12
March 14, 2010: 5:45 am
Galarza was at the European Commission from 1993 to 2008 and at Mayer |
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