Gleiss Lutz Rechtsanwalte

Gleiss Lutz is the largest German competition practice in the GCR 100. Its 33-strong practice is led by Ingo Brinker. He is one of the group's four Who's Who nominees. The practice bade farewell this year to Stuttgart partner Werner Kleinmann, who retired after more than 40 years in practice. But the firm saw a net gain to its competition partnership, following three internal promotions: Petra Linsmeier and Reinhard Siegert in Munich, and Ulrich Denzel in Stuttgart.

Gleiss Lutz rechtsanwälte

This year, the firm advised Siemens on its appeal before the European Court of First Instance against administrative fines levied by the European Commission against members of the gas insulated switchgear cartel.

It also represented GEMA, which was fined by DG Comp during its investigation of European collecting societies, and Schindler, which was hit with administrative fines for its role in an elevators and escalators cartel. And it is defending Heidelberg Cement against cartel damages claims and in proceedings before the Federal Cartel Office, the Higher Regional Court, the European Commission and the European Courts.

The firm says it is particularly proud to have been involved in “all other major German antitrust investigations” initiated by the European Commission or the Federal Cartel Office, including probes of the industrial property insurance, bathroom fittings and pharmaceutical wholesale sectors. It also coordinated global damages claims filed against Degussa following the chemical manufacturer's leniency submission.

On the transactional side, Gleiss Lutz handled Phonak's acquisition of hearing-aid producer GN ReSound. It represented the company before Germany's Federal Cartel Office, and in its appeal against the subsequent merger prohibition before the DÜsseldorf Higher Regional Court.

Gleiss Lutz also advised long-term client Blackstone on a number of antitrust matters this year, including the takeover of the Hilton Group; the acquisitions of Klockner Pentaplast, DJO, Gokaldas Exports and Alliance Data; and its investment in Deutsche Telekom.