CERHA HEMPEL Dezso & Partners

Competition and Antitrust

Managing Partner / Head of Antitrust & Competition, spesialised in Antitrust & Competition, IP & Unfair Competition, Employment Law.

Admitted 2005, (Attorney at Law), Hungary Functions:

Lecturer, University Széchenyi István (Györ, 2006-2007) Lecturer, University ELTE (Budapest, 2002-2009)

The competition practice is headed by Tamás PolaufI, managing partner of CERHA HEMPEL Dezső & Partners. Tamás has outstanding experience in national and international competition law, as well as commercial transactions. In addition to providing advice to Hungarian and international clients in high-profile cartel cases (such as Thomson/Technicolor,  Hungarian bank cartel case) and other competition law matters, he also has extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions.

After finishing the University of Law in Budapest (“summa cum laude”), he participated in a 3-year PhD law programme and studied philosophy for two years at the same university. He also studied EU Competition law at the King’s College London.

Tamás is widely known for his client-oriented solutions, and clients appreciate his innovative approach and advice tailored to the requirements of their individual needs. Tamás advised clients in a number of highly successful cross-border merger control cases, such as IMMOFINANZ AG, Air Liquide, Dresdner Bank’s merger into Commerzbank, Qatar’s acquisition of a shareholding in Volkswagen AG, or STRABAG SE’s acquisition of the Lafarge Group.

He is the author of many articles and academic papers (including Chapter IV in the official university textbook entitled Infringements under Competition Law – Consequences under Private Law, or a 2016 Thomson Reuters study on private antitrust litigation in Hungary). Tamás is editor-in-chief of a handbook on private damages claims published by Wolters Kluwer in 2018. He is frequently asked by editors of various newspapers (including Világgazdaság, Hungary’s top daily business newspaper) regarding developments in competition cases before regulatory authorities or courts (e.g. in one of the largest cartel damages court procedures in Germany, which was initiated by Wabererʼs, a Hungarian road haulage company, claiming EUR 47.8 million from the members of a cartel of vehicle manufacturers, or regarding potential claims of consumers in the case of anticompetitive practices by retailers.

Tamás is the founder of the Hungarian website competition.hu.

Hungarian, German, English

Budapest Bar Association Lex Mundi - The World's Leading Association of Independent Law Firms

Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (Dr. iur., 2001); Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (Ph.D. 2001-2006); Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (Faculty of Philosophy, 2004-2005)