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Thomas Funke

Partner

Biography

Thomas helps corporate clients succeed in antitrust litigation and other business-critical competition law matters.

His experience of over 20 years includes cartel damages litigation before the European Court of Justice and the German Supreme Court. Representing retail groups, consumer goods manufacturers and claims funders, Thomas helped secure decisions in Akzo v Commission (T-345/12), CDC v Commission (T-437/08) as well as the CJEU Hydrogen Peroxide and BGH Coffee Roaster litigation. He leads one of the largest cartel damages actions against the European trucks cartel.

As lead counsel in German and EU antitrust investigations, Thomas has represented key players from the automotive, energy, banking and technology sectors. He defended a North American tech company in EU cartel investigations and secured expedited merger clearances for large retail and life sciences transactions from the German Federal Cartel Office. The European Commission retained him to defend its merger clearances of the EUR 60 bn E.ON/RWE asset swap against multiple third-party challenges in the European Court of Justice.

Thomas has been commended as a leading expert for the EU competition framework for the automotive sector. He led international projects involving the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation, technology and parts markets as well as vehicle-generated data. 

An active member of the ABA Antitrust Section Leadership, Thomas has spoken at the ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting and served as Vice Chair of the ABA Global Private Litigation Conference in 2025. He is a Steering Committee member of the Cambridge Forum for European Competition Litigation.

Thomas has published on the EU block exemptions, antitrust procedure, energy regulation, vertical restraints, merger control and private enforcement. 

He is recommended in Chambers Global, Best Lawyers, and all other leading directories. JUVE ranks him among Germany’s leading antitrust litigators. 

Thomas joined Geradin Partners in 2025 from another international law firm, where he served as global co-head of the Antitrust, Regulation and Competition group.

Education

  • Dr. iur., magna cum laude, Bonn University (2003)
  • LL.M., Fulbright Scholar, University of Virginia (1999)
  • Université de Lausanne, Studienstiftung Scholar, (1994-95)
  • Bonn University, Studienstiftung Scholar (1992-98)

Admission

Cologne (Germany), March 2002

Languages

German, English, French

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