Awards and recognition — 13/12/2024

Geradin Partners recommended in three jurisdictions in leading competition law directory GCR 100

13 December 2024

Geradin Partners is delighted to be recommended in the GCR 100 list of top competition law firms in Brussels, London and Amsterdam. After several consecutive listings for its Brussels office, this marks the first time the firm obtains listings in London and Amsterdam, a recognition of its growing presence in the UK and Netherlands jurisdictions. We are grateful to our clients for their confidence in our firm. 

The Geradin Partners entries read as follows:

Brussels: GERADIN PARTNERS is involved in some cutting-edge mandates before the European Commission, including advising Match Group on its complaint against Apple’s App Store practices and defends Corning in a commission abuse of dominance investigation, with the agency inviting feedback from third parties on proposed commitments in November 2024. The firm also represents the European Publishers Council on its EU complaint challenging Google’s ad tech practices. The commission sent Google a statement of objections in June 2023. The firm is additionally involved in an EU no-poach investigation on behalf of a confidential client and advises several blue-chip companies on competition law issues.

London: Damien Geradin and Tom Smith lead the UK competition team at GERADIN PARTNERS, which has expanded significantly in past years. Anthony Ojukwu joined as counsel from the Competition and Markets Authority in September 2023, while David Gallagher was promoted to partner in January 2024. Geradin Partners acts for Sean Ennis as the class representative in a collective action seeking damages on behalf of around 1,566 UK app creators alleging that Apple abused its dominance by charging developers an excessive “creator tax”. The CAT dismissed Apple’s application to strike out the action in April 2024 and certified the claim in September. The firm also advises a class of UK online publishers in a £13.6 billion opt-out class action claim against Google’s ad tech practices. The CAT consolidated the claim with a competing class action in September 2023 and certified it in June 2024. Epic Games has also tapped the firm to advise on various competition issues.

Amsterdam: GERADIN PARTNERS’ Dutch competition practice is led by partners Stijn Huijts and Ruben Elkerbout. The latter joined the firm from Stek in January 2024, launching the Amsterdam office. In merger control, the practice is advising Foresco Packaging in the ACM’s in-depth probe of its planned takeover of two smaller rivals, which features a novel analysis on whether the deal could further the dominance the company obtained through a series of below-threshold acquisitions. In litigation work, Elkerbout continues to defend the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) against claims from Pro-Agent, EFAA and two football agents that FIFA’s Football Agents Regulations and the KNVB are in breach of competition law. 

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Damien Geradin

(+32) 471 17 95 25

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