Kirkland & Ellis has boosted its antitrust bench with the hire of four partners from Cleary across Brussels and London.
Leading EU competition specialist Robbert Snelders, who was co-head of Cleary’s EMEA competition practice and a veteran of the firm of 34 years, has joined in Brussels alongside fellow Cleary veteran Thomas Graf and Conor Opdebeeck‑Wilson, who made partner at the firm in 2024.
Snelders focuses on EU and worldwide merger control proceedings, cartel and abuse of dominance investigations, as well as litigation.
Meanwhile, Graf, who had been at Cleary since 2000, covers IP law as well as competition and regulatory affairs, including acting for Google in investigations before the EU Commission.
Opdebeeck‑Wilson focuses on work with tech firms and financial institutions, including in relation to global merger reviews, behavioural investigations and litigation.
The team is completed by London partner Henry Mostyn, who has spent the past four years as a partner at Cleary and focuses on abuse of dominance matters for tech sector clients.
Kirkland’s chairman, Jon Ballis, said the incoming team were “market-leaders for high-stakes EU, UK and global merger control, cartel and unilateral conduct matters as well as in the growing field of digital regulation”.
The incoming team is a significant boost to Kirkland’s Brussels office, which the firm opened in 2021 and currently houses six partners, according to its website, all members of the antitrust and competition practice.
Matthew Elliott, a member of the firm’s executive committee, said the Cleary team’s behavioural antitrust, litigation and digital regulatory experience “enhances our ability to deliver antitrust advice to clients as part of our wider, market-leading global platform”.
Kirkland is not alone in boosting its EU competition offering as firms compete to support multinational clients navigating complex new regulatory frameworks, stricter merger controls and heightened cross-border antitrust enforcement.
In March, Vinson & Elkins opened its first continental European office in Brussels after hiring a competition partner from Hogan Lovells, around the same time as Paul Hastings relaunched in Brussels with a competition hire from King & Spalding.
Firms including Weil, Arnold & Porter, McDermott Will & Schulte and Skadden have also hired EU competition partners in recent months across London and in continental Europe.
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