The international law firm of Arnold & Porter LLP today announced an expansion of its Brussels office, which opened in summer 2003. Five antitrust/competition lawyers have joined partners Marleen Van Kerckhove, William Baer, Tim Frazer, and Susan Hinchliffe to create a team of nine in Brussels. A reception marking the opening and expansion of the office was held last evening at the firm’s Brussels office, located at 11, Rue des Colonies – Koloniënstraat 11.
“Strong interest from our clients encouraged us to expand quickly,” said Marleen Van Kerckhove, head of the Brussels office. “By strengthening our Brussels team and working closely with the firm’s antitrust/competition and regulatory groups in the U.S. and London, we will be able to offer our multinational clients first-rate legal representation in Europe and the U.S.”
The expanded Brussels team includes associates Niels Christian Ersbøll, who has advised clients in EC and Danish competition issues; Julie Ann Goshorn, formerly resident in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office, who is experienced in antitrust aspects of merger and non-merger investigations by government agencies; Audrey Mikolajczak, who has expertise in EC and Belgian competition law, EC customs law, and World Trade Organization (WTO) law; and Juan José Martínez, who has over ten years of EC law experience, including assisting major American and European companies and public institutions on matters relating to competition, state aids, and free movement.
The Brussels office is led by four partners. Marleen Van Kerckhove has been involved in several of the largest merger cases reported to the EU and has advised extensively on other areas of EC competition law, including litigation. William Baer, who heads Arnold & Porter’s antitrust practice of more than 60 lawyers in the U.S. and Europe, spends a significant portion of his time in Brussels, as does London competition partner Tim Frazer, who brings over 20 years of experience in competition and antitrust law. Mr. Baer served as Director of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Bureau of Competition from 1995 to 2000. Partner Susan Hinchliffe, a former resident of the firm’s London office, is an English solicitor with a broad range of EC and UK competition experience in a variety of sectors.
Arnold & Porter won the 2003 Chambers USA Award for Antitrust Law Firm of the Year from Chambers & Partners. The firm’s antitrust/competition clients operate in a broad array of industries, including food, finance, pharmaceuticals, medical technologies, defense, telecommunications, and computer technology.
