Shearman & Sterling Expands European and Global Antitrust Practice with Addition of Five-Partner Team in Brussels

23rd February 2011

New partners bring market-leading capabilities, reputation to servicing clients in Europe and United States

23 Feb 2011

Kenneth S. Prince


In a move that significantly expands its European and global antitrust practice, Shearman & Sterling has announced that a five-partner team is joining its Brussels office. Trevor Soames, Götz Drauz, Geert Goeteyn, Stephen Mavroghenis and Miguel Rato are joining the firm's global antitrust team, which has resources in Brussels, Düsseldorf, London, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Washington, DC. It is expected that a team of associates will also join Shearman & Sterling's Brussels office.

“We are delighted to welcome these highly regarded antitrust lawyers to the firm,” said Rohan S. Weerasinghe, Shearman & Sterling’s senior partner. "These partners come to our firm with an outstanding reputation and a track record of first-rate client service. As our firm continues to play a lead role in complex, cross-border work around the world, we anticipate that these lawyers, along with our current group of antitrust partners, will help us to continue to meet the growing needs of our clients."

Added Creighton Condon, Shearman & Sterling's European managing partner, "This important addition to our antitrust capabilities reflects our continued commitment to expanding and integrating our European service offering. We are now even better positioned to counsel clients across the continent."

The five were formerly partners in Howrey's EU antitrust practice in Brussels—a practice regularly cited for being among the best in Europe and identified by Global Competition Review in both 2009 and 2010 as being one of only four “Elite” Brussels practices. They will join a global Shearman & Sterling team that has a strong roster of clients throughout Europe, the United States and around the world.

Kenneth Prince, practice leader of Shearman & Sterling’s global Antitrust Group, said, “Our new partners will strengthen our already highly regarded EU and US antitrust team, which is known for offering sophisticated antitrust advice to our international clients. Antitrust issues are of increasing concern to corporate and financial institutions worldwide, especially with increased cooperation between EU and US enforcement agencies. With the addition of these market-leading antitrust partners, we envision a great opportunity to provide unsurpassed transatlantic and global client service and thought leadership."

The new partners say they were attracted to Shearman & Sterling by its global platform and the strength of its partners and practices.

In a joint statement, the new partners said, "Shearman & Sterling's global reach and reputation gives us a top-class and stable platform to provide our clients with continued legal counsel and support on their most important international matters and work with our new colleagues to develop, yet further, Shearman & Sterling’s excellent antitrust practice and client base."

Trevor Soames is an English-law qualified Barrister and Solicitor-Advocate and practices EU and Member State antitrust and regulatory law, generally focusing on client-critical and complex contentious cases including mergers, monopolization, state aid and cartel investigations. He often appears before antitrust agencies, European, and national courts and has worked with many of the world's largest corporations across a wide range of industries. He previously served as Howrey's global antitrust practice co-chair. He led the team that successfully concluded the European Commission’s five-year Article 102 investigation into Qualcomm which won the Legal Business award for Competition Team of the Year 2010.

Götz Drauz worked at the European Commission for 24 years before joining Howrey, most recently as Deputy Director-General responsible for managing merger control activity within the Competition Directorate. There he launched the Commission's inquiry into competition in the electricity and gas sectors and was involved in settling a number of groundbreaking cases. His transformation from an influential Commission official into a leading practitioner in Brussels is widely recognized by peers and clients. He is German-law qualified.

Geert Goeteyn advises on all aspects of EU and UK antitrust and merger and aviation regulatory law. He is Belgian- and English-law qualified and has represented clients in a wide variety of industries, with a particular focus on aviation, where he has consistently been recognized by his peers as one of the top practitioners in the field. He has advised clients on complex mergers, joint ventures and alliance arrangements and dominance issues, and has represented them in cartel investigations.

Stephen Mavroghenis advises corporate clients on major international mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, takeovers, and the antitrust law implications of diverse business practices. An English-qualified lawyer, he has represented clients before the European Commission and the UK Office of Fair Trading, as well as handling investigations by competition authorities in other jurisdictions, including Canada, South Africa and the United States.

Miguel Rato is Portuguese-qualified. He has experience in a wide range of behavioral and EU merger control cases, as well as state aid investigations. Prior to joining Howrey, he completed a traineeship at the European Commission's Competition Directorate and also worked as a Clerk at the European General Court in Luxembourg.

Shearman & Sterling's global Antitrust Group is widely recognized as one of the most sophisticated competition law practices in the world. The firm's lawyers counsel clients on their most critical and complex antitrust matters, from mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and distribution system restructurings, to cartel and civil government investigations, class action and private antitrust litigation, to trade regulation, state aid issues, public procurement, and counseling on day-to-day antitrust law issues. The firm’s vast experience and presence in key antitrust jurisdictions are integral assets in providing a coordinated strategy in multinational transactions and investigations.

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