Hogan Lovells Hires Antitrust Partner in Brussels
8th June 2011
8 June, 2011 Hogan Lovells has expanded its Antitrust, Competition and Economic Regulation (ACER) team with the hire of partner Paris Anestis. Paris joined Hogan Lovells International LLP on 6 June 2011 and he joins with junior associate Dimitris Vallindas.
Paris, who was previously a partner in the competition group at Howrey, in Brussels has represented clients in several high profile competition investigations, M&A, state aid and European court litigation. He has worked across a wide range of industries including aviation, energy, electronic communications, financial services, shipping and construction.
Recent matters in which he acted as lead counsel include: the successful privatization of Olympic Air coupled with closure of the long standing Commission investigations and European Court litigation on state aid issues; the sale of the Hellenic Telecoms Organisation (OTE) to Deutsche Telecom; the approval of the OTE employee redundancy state aid scheme; the representation of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) before the European Commission and the European Courts in the Article 102 and 106 TFEU lignite case; and the acquisition of Shell in Greece by Motoroil.
Commenting on Paris' arrival, Co-chief executive David Harris said:
"Hogan Lovells has one of the strongest global regulatory practices. With the recruitment of Paris, as well as the hire, over the last year, of Robby Robertson in Washington and Suyong Kim in London, we continue to build that market leading practice.”
Susan Bright, Co-Head of Hogan Lovells Anti-trust, Competition and Economic Regulation group said:
“Paris' extensive experience and success in high profile competition cases speaks for itself. He is a very welcome addition to our team."
Catriona Hatton, Office Managing Partner in Brussels said:
"Brussels is a key hub for clients for international antitrust work and hiring Paris' reflects our continuing investment in a Brussels team which provides a first-rate client service combining the best legal skills with in-depth industry knowledge. Paris' experience further enhances our leading state aid practice and his strong track record in a broad range of competition cases with a focus on industries such as transport, energy and telecoms, is a great fit with our practice."
Paris Anestis said:
"Hogan Lovells’ top class competition practice, as well as the firm’s global full service reach, provide an excellent platform for our clients’ needs both in complex antitrust and state aid, but also in other matters. We are very happy that we are joining this team in Brussels."
The creation of Hogan Lovells doubled the size of the Brussels office and following the appointment of Paris and his team there will be nine partners based in Brussels and a team of over 30 lawyers.