January 11, 2008
January 11, 2008 - (Brussels) - McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP is pleased to announce that European Community (EC) competition specialist Flavia Distefano joined the Firm’s Brussels office as a partner earlier this week to help launch the Firm’s EC competition practice.
“We are very excited to have Flavia join us and help expand the capability of the Brussels office beyond its strong regulatory and corporate practices,” said Ursula Schliessner, partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge’s Brussels office. “Her extensive EC competition experience and active involvement in the Brussels competition community have made Flavia the perfect candidate for the launching of our EC competition practice.”
Ms Distefano will assist clients in all aspects of EC competition law and litigation before the European Courts. She has advised clients from various industry sectors on a wide range of competition matters, including Article 81 and 82 EC related issues, merger control, joint ventures, and distribution agreements.
Ms Distefano has represented multi-national companies in a number of high profile cases before the European Commission and the Italian competition authority, including in landmark “phase II” merger cases and major cartel proceedings. She also has extensive experience litigating before the European Courts in Luxembourg and is presently representing several companies in their appeals before the Court of First Instance against recent Commission cartel decisions. Ms Distefano previously practiced in Brussels for more than twelve years, including with Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, and with O’Melveny & Myers.
The European competition practice team in Brussels will work closely with the Firm’s U.S. antitrust team led by Phil Bartz in Washington, D.C. “We are delighted to welcome Flavia to the Firm and to add her EC competition expertise to our well established antitrust practice,” said Phil Bartz, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Federal Programs Branch of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This further enhances our ability to serve clients with competition needs on both sides of the Atlantic.”
“Our Brussels office is recognized for its EU product regulatory and international corporate practices,” said Jeff Haidet, Chairman of McKenna Long & Aldridge. “With Flavia’s arrival, we are adding an EC competition practice that will complement our practices in these other areas, furthering our strategy of building on our strengths in key regulatory areas in our Brussels office and throughout the Firm.”
In addition to EC competition expertise, the Firm’s Brussels attorneys are leaders in environmental, food, health and safety laws, including REACH, product defense, mergers and acquisitions and cross-border transactions.