Morrison Foerster (MoFo) has bolstered its European competition practice with the hire of Alexander Israel, the founding partner of Cooley’s Brussels office.

Israel, a German-qualified lawyer registered with the Brussels Bar, has taken up the role of European competition practice chair at his new firm.

He will also serve as co-managing partner alongside current office head Alex van der Wolk, whose management responsibilities grew in January when he was charged with also leading the firm’s new Amsterdam arm. 

Israel hit the headlines in February 2019 when Cooley recruited him from German independent firm Noerr to found its Brussels office, its second European base following the launch of its London office in 2015.

Speaking to Boston University’s alumni magazine in 2019, Joe Conroy, Cooley’s then-chief executive, said: “Alexander has a combination that is rare to find. He’s a subject matter expert, but he’s also got a real entrepreneurial streak. It was attractive for us to build an office around someone who understands the task of building a Cooley presence in a new market.”

Alongside his management skills, Israel brings extensive experience in competition and antitrust litigation, advising on merger control proceedings, global cartel investigations, abuse of dominance matters, and related cases before the European Commission, the UK Competition and Markets Authority and the German Federal Cartel Office.

His expertise spans German, EU and US law, and he has been regularly involved in high-profile cases, including advising on the air cargo defence before the EU courts and representing a Swiss investment bank in the European Commission’s credit default swaps market investigation.

His extensive background and leadership in antitrust law is also underpinned by his five-year stint at Noerr, which he joined from Wilmer Hale with a brief to help it establish its Brussels arm.

Alexander Okuliar, MoFo’s antitrust group co-chair, said: “Alexander brings immense antitrust experience to the firm and our Brussels office [as a] critical component of our global practice. 

“His formidable merger control, investigations and litigation experience in Brussels and across Europe will add to our strength in Brussels and complement our existing capabilities in Berlin, the UK, Japan and the US.”

Israel praised the firm’s merger control and contentious competition law strengths, especially in its capacity as an adviser to leading technology industry players.

His arrival follows the further swelling of the firm’s competition partner ranks last month when two antitrust specialists were promoted to the partnership: Washington DC-based Kerry Jones and Tokyo-based Yoshiya Usami.

MoFo’s Amsterdam office, meanwhile, will specialise in offering privacy and data security services to tech and life sciences clients. It will be its fourth European base.

For its part, Cooley announced last week that Brussels-based counsel Stella Sarma, who joined the firm in 2019 from Latham & Watkins, had been elected to the partnership.

Partner Sonya Erickson, who chairs the firm’s business department, said: “Sarma has played a critical role in developing our business in Brussels, including as an integral member of our global antitrust team for our clients’ worldwide merger control and foreign investment needs.”