Legance - Avvocati Associati

EU, Antitrust and Regulation

Partner

Pietro Merlino is a partner in the EU, Antitrust and Regulation department at Legance and focuses on EU and Italian competition law. He assists clients in connection with the application of EU and Italian competition rules across a wide range of sectors (from life sciences to energy, tech and digital economy, banking, insurance, transportations, consumer goods). Pietro advises and represents international and Italian clients in all areas of competition law, including abuse of dominance, cartel and restrictive practices investigations, merger control, civil antitrust litigation (follow-on or stand-alone damages actions), licensing and distribution, as well as on consumer protection and on general EU law issues.

Pietro appears frequently before the EU courts in Luxembourg and the Italian civil and administrative courts, as well as before the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission and the Italian Competition Authority.

Over the years, Pietro has developed a strong, specific expertise in the application of competition rules in the pharmaceutical, energy and transport sectors as well as on the interplay between antitrust law and intellectual property rights (IPRs).

Pietro Merlino has authored numerous publications on competition law. He lectures at several Italian universities and he is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars in Italy and abroad. Pietro is currently a member of the steering committee of the association Concorrenze (which brings together lawyers and economists with expertise in competition law and economics) and a member of Associazione Antitrust Italiana (Italian Antitrust Association).

Italian, English, French and Portuguese

Member of the steering committee of the association Concorrenze.

Member of the Italian Antitrust Association.

Member of the Naples Bar (Italy).

Admitted to practice before the Supreme Court and Highest Jurisdiction (Italy).

In 1996 Pietro Merlino graduated in Law, summa cum laude, at Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Naples (Italy).

In 1998 Pietro Merlino obtained a LL.M. in Advanced European Legal Studies at College of Europe, Bruges (Belgium).

In 1999 Pietro Merlino obtained a LL.M. at University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan (U.S.A.).

In 2004 Pietro Merlino also obtained a Ph.D. in EU competition law, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Naples (Italy).