Bird & Bird LLP

EU and competition, Media and entertainment, Telecoms, ESG

Pauline Kuipers is a partner in Bird & Bird's Netherlands office, based in The Hague, where she was one of its founding lawyers in 2001.
Today, she co-leads the firm's International Competition Law Group and heads the Competition Group in the Netherlands, providing clients with wide-ranging expertise in EU & competition law, particularly in regulated sectors and on the interface between IP and competition law. She is also a member of the firm's ESG steering group.
On the basis of her EU law expertise, Pauline advises many global companies on ESG regulatory developments, particularly CRSD and CSDDD, and helps them understand how these regulations affect their business and what it means in terms of compliance.
In The Netherlands, she leads the team dealing with cartel procedures, abuse of dominance matters, and merger notifications to the Dutch competition authority and European Commission. The team also co-ordinates multi-jurisdictional merger filings and foreign investment screenings, and deals with private enforcement actions and regulation of network industries.
Meanwhile, her expertise in IP law enables her to advise in matters at the convergence of competition law and intellectual property, such as licensing arrangements and other technology transfer agreements, standardisation discussions, 'refusal to licence' issues, FRAND licensing, and abuse of IP rights.
In addition, Pauline's team advises on competition rules on undertakings granted special or exclusive rights by the state, including state aid and foreign subsidies.

Pauline joined Bird & Bird in 2001 as one of the founding lawyers of the office of Bird & Bird in The Hague. She teaches competition law in the Professional Education for In-House Lawyers (SBB) courses and publishes regularly on competition law topics. Over the years she has served on the board of the Dutch Competition Law Association and been Secretary General of the International League of Competition Law.

Dutch and English

Dutch Competition Law Association (VvM), International League of Competition Law (LIDC), Dutch Association for Media and Communication Law (VMC), Association for Public Procurement Law (NvvA), Licensing Executives Society (LES)

Pauline was admitted to the bar in 1995.