Senior Competition Appointments Announced for Herbert Smith Freehills' Brussels Office

Herbert Smith Freehills has appointed Kyriakos Fountoukakos to the role of Managing Partner of its Brussels office.  His appointment comes as the firm also announces the promotion of Daniel Vowden to partner in Brussels and of Peter Rowland to Of Counsel, with effect from 1 May 2019. 

Kyriakos succeeds Craig Pouncey who is retiring after 32 years with the firm. Craig has been Managing Partner of the Brussels office since 2005. Under Craig's stewardship, the office, which was established in 1989 by Jonathan Scott (currently Non-Executive Director of the Competition and Markets Authority), has grown into one of the most established competition practices in Brussels advising on the full range of competition law, EU litigation, state aid and trade law. 

Kyriakos has more than two decades experience in competition law.  He joined Herbert Smith Freehills as a partner in 2006, having spent 5 years as a European Commission official at DG Competition's merger task force and Référendaire (Legal Assistant) in the cabinet of the former President of the EU General Court.

Kyriakos has been instrumental building the EU competition law practice in Brussels, advising key clients in high profile cases including abuse of dominance and merger transactions particularly in the TMT, energy/mining, pharmaceutical and consumer sectors as well as cartel cases including in automotive parts and financial services. He works extensively across the firm's international network and one of his responsibilities includes managing a dedicated cross-border team based in Tokyo, providing competition-law advice to Japanese clients. Kyriakos is also an officer of the IBA Antitrust committee and teaches merger control law at the LLM programme of UCL (London). 

Kyriakos' appointment comes as the firm makes further announcements showing its commitment to grow its successful competition practice and its Brussels office as the hub of its EU competition law practice.

With almost 15 years' experience as a competition lawyer in Brussels and more recently in Herbert Smith Freehill's London office, Daniel will focus on advising clients on all aspects of EU and UK competition law. Daniel's close links with the London office will also enable him to provide seamless advice on both EU and UK competition law on merger filings and cartel investigations, with a focus on the financial services, energy and pharmaceutical sectors.

Peter is a highly experienced competition lawyer holding a dual UK and Belgian qualification. He has advised clients in several high-profile merger transactions and has in-depth experience in specific sectors including TMT (with significant expertise in data related issues; platforms; and media), pharma and energy/mining. He is, together with Kyriakos, editor of the merger control chapter in Sweet & Maxwell's Jones & Van der Woude "EU Competition Law Handbook". 

In addition to Daniel and Peter, promotions in our global competition practice, which is headed by Stephen Wisking, include Marcel Nuys and Marius Boewe in Dusseldorf and Adelaide Luke in Hong Kong, as well as the promotion of Marie Louvet to Of Counsel in Paris.  They will all work closely with the Brussels office to promote the firm's EMEA and international competition practice.

Marcel is an experienced German and European competition law specialist. He has advised clients on merger control, abuse of dominance cases, cartels and antitrust damage proceedings. Marcel advises clients in a variety of industries, including automotive, technology, media and telecommunications, transportation and logistics, consumer goods and pharmaceuticals.   Marius has more than 15 years of experience in regulatory law with a particular focus and expertise in aviation and energy law.  Adelaide advises on competition law, specialising in multi-jurisdictional cartel investigations and merger control arrangements for complex corporate transactions. Her detailed understanding of UK, EU and Asian regulatory regimes is invaluable to companies working on a pan-Asia basis. Marie has more than 10 years of experience in French and EU competition law including merger control, antitrust investigations, distribution law and compliance. She advises clients in a broad range of sectors including digital platforms, financial sector, energy and infrastructure.

Herbert Smith Freehill's team in Brussels includes Lode Van den Hende – a specialist in trade, EU regulatory and state aid issues; Bo Vesterdorf, former President of the EU General Court; and Eric White, former head of the Trade Policy and WTO team of the European Commission's legal service. Details of the Brussels team can be found here.

Kyriakos commented: "I am deeply honoured to take over the management of the Brussels office and look forward to building on the office's success. The Brussels office is celebrating its 30 year anniversary this year and is going from strength to strength. We have a diverse, stellar team of lawyers at all levels of seniority including senior former officials and judges. As competition, regulatory and trade laws evolve and become ever more complex, I am confident that our experience and in-depth knowledge of sectors, regulators, courts, policymakers and their workings, means we will be we