Bird & Bird
At Bird & Bird, the combination of strong competition and trade law expertise ensures that the team is particularly well placed to advise on control mechanisms for foreign subsidies and foreign direct investment. Other key pillars of the practice include abuse of dominance investigations, merger control work, and state aid issues. José Rivas and Hein Hobbelen co-head the Brussels competition practice; the former has in-depth knowledge of the sports and aviation sectors, while the latter ‘stands out as a terrific competition and telecoms lawyer’.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Great insights.’
‘Very knowledgeable.’
‘The team is pragmatic, efficient and to-the-point.’
‘José Rivas is analytical, efficient and pragmatic.’
‘What makes this practice unique is José Rivas.’
‘José Rivas is a second-to-none lawyer with solid experience in all areas of competition law, EU law in general, and impressive experience in litigation before the EU courts. There would not be many lawyers in private practice with such extensive ligitation experience.’
‘Very sharp eye on telecoms regulations, responsive and quick. A multi-jurisdictional team allows the firm to provide complete advice to the client. I was very impressed.’
‘Hein Hobbelen stands out as a terrific competition and telecoms lawyer, and a very gifted communicator. He has also excellent coordination skills for cross-border projects.'
Key clients
- Securitas
- easyJet
- Carpatair
- Rubycon
- Inditex
- Burberry
- FIFA (International Federation of Association Football)
- Panasonic
- John Deere
- Air Products PLC
- ASML
- Borg Warner
- SES
- Boehringer Ingelheim
- ACE (Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment) / GRACE (Global Recycling Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment)
- European Thermal Paper Association (ETPA)
- Ottobock
- CLEPA (European Association of Automotive Suppliers)
- CLECAT – European Association for Forwarding, Transport, Logistics and Customs Services
Work highlights
- Representing Securitas in a cartel investigation.
- Represented Carpatair in an action for annulment before the EU General Court against the decision of the European Commission concerning support granted by Timişoara Airport to Wizz Air.
- Represented a complainant in the European Commission's investigation regarding Apple's in-app purchase terms for e-books and audio books.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
José Rivas, Hein Hobbelen