Professional notice
Three firms in the GCR 100 specialise solely in competition law. With 33 specialists, French firm Vogel & Vogel is the largest. It has only two partners – the brothers who give the firm its name. Both are Who's Who nominees.
Vogel & Vogel
| Global heads: Louis Vogel and Joseph Vogel |
| Home jurisdiction: France |
| Total size of firm: 33 |
| No. of competition lawyers: 33 |
| % of firm specialised: 100 |
| Who's Who nominees: 2 |
| Equity partners: 2 |
| Senior associates: 14 |
| Associates: 9 |
| Counsel: 8 |
| No. of lateral partner hires: 0 |
| No. of partner departures: 0 |
| No. of internal promotions: 0 |
The firm handled an array of competition matters this year. It advised Bouygues Télécom during an investigation of the mobile phone sector by French competition authorities. And when Crédit Agricole established a joint venture with Fiat Auto for car financing, fleet management and dealer financing, the Paris-based practice handled merger filings before the European and Swiss competition authorities.
The firm also advised the parent companies and various subsidiaries of the French Building and Public Works group on the ex officio investigation of market sharing between rival procurement firms. The French Competition Council has alleged that anti-competitive practices took place on public works contracts in the Ile-de-France region. Vogel & Vogel represented the Bouygues group.
In July, meanwhile, Vogel & Vogel won a reduction in fines for Shisedo, one of 16 perfume-makers and suppliers found guilty of price fixing. The companies, which also included Dior, Yves Saint-Laurent and Chanel, were fined over e45 million by the council for fixing prices on fragrances and cosmetics sold by Sephora, Marionnaud and Nocibé stores. The Paris Court of Appeal reduced the fine to e30 million, after finding that the council had applied price maintenance resale prohibition to an industry in which the price of the product reflects its luxury nature.
Vogel & Vogel also advised Cauval Industries on its acquisition by Oniris, notifying the merger to France's DGCCRF and Germany's Federal Cartel Office, and acted for Manufrance, which joined forces with Sea-Invest and ThyssenKrupp Veerhaven to control EMO-EKOM, which is active in stevedoring services in the port of Rotterdam.