Simmons & Simmons plans to grow in Portugal
January 17
Simmons & Simmons has formed a three-office practice in Portugal under the name Simmons & Simmons Rebelo de Sousa, thereby integrating Grupo Legal Portugues, the joint venture it founded 10 years ago with Rebelo de Sousa & Associados. More

Senate committee will evaluate US antitrust laws
January 17
US Senate minority leader Thomas Daschle has chosen Jonathan Jacobson, antitrust partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer in New York, and Jonathan Yarowsky, partner at Patton Boggs in Washington, to sit on the new 12-member commission appointed to look into the effectiveness of antitrust laws in the US. More

Kaye Scholer makes new partner
January 17
Claudia Higgins, an ex- assistant director at the FTC, has been made partner at Kaye Scholer’s New York office.
Higgins joined Kaye Scholer in 2001 after serving for 20 years at the Federal Trade Commission. The last position she held there was that of assistant director of the Bureau of Competition. During her career at the FTC she was responsible for merger enforcement actions in a wide range of industries including pharmacies, medical devices, defence products and consumer goods. More

45 under 45 includes four antitrust lawyers
January 17
Four antitrust lawyers were among those making this year’s ‘American Lawyer 45 under 45’ list, the occasional survey which tries to identify the profession’s rising stars. More

RBB economist advises OPTA on recruiting chief economist
January 10
OPTA, the Dutch telecoms regulator, has announced it will create a position of chief economist. The economist will operate in OPTA’s strategy & coordination department. More

Weil Gotshal opens in Paris
January 10
Weil Gotshal & Manges has expanded its European presence through a merger with French corporate firm Serra Leavy & Cazals. The new firm, which will operate under the Weil Gotshal & Manges name, opened for business on January 1^st. More

Charles River hires Perry Quick
January 10
Financial and antitrust consultant Perry Quick is to leave Ernst & Young’s consulting and quantitative analysis unit to join Charles River Associates as a vice president. Quick, whose consulting experience stretches back to 1968, will be part of the firm’s Washington DC practice. More

Arquit leaves Clifford Chance
December 20
Kevin Arquit, the highest-paid antitrust lawyer in the US, is leaving Clifford Chance for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, in New York. More

Howrey Simon and Freshfields vie for top spot
December 20
Howrey Simon Arnold & White has the biggest competition group in the world - according to new research by Global Competition Review. The research is to be published as part of the GCR 100, an independent survey of the leading practice competition groups. More

Stanbrook Hooper appoints ex-OECD counsel as partner
December 20
Mark Warner is leaving Hughes Hubbard & Reed for Stanbrook & Hooper. Warner, a former counsel to the OECD Trade Directorate, will start as a partner in the Brussels office from January 2003. More

Sher moves to Latham & Watkins
December 20
Senior associate Brian Sher is leaving Linklaters to join Latham & Watkins’ London office as Of Counsel. Sher specialises in Competition and EU law. Before joining Linklaters he worked for McKinsey management consultants. More

McDermott Will snares Koberstein from FTC
December 20
Nicholas Koberstein has left the Federal Trade Commission to join the Washington DC office of McDermott Will & Emery. Koberstein, a veteran of eight years at the commission, served as assistant to Molly Boast when she was Director of the Bureau of Competition. He will start as a partner in the firm’s antitrust practice group. More

Leaks undermine announcement on merger reform
December 13
A series of gaffes by DG Comp put a dampener on Mario Monti’s big moment in the spotlight this week. On Wednesday Europe’s Competition Commissioner unveiled a package of merger reforms amid fanfare — but events earlier in the week had already robbed the announcement of much of its force. More

FTC reins in second requests
December 13
The US Federal Trade Commission is at long last to pare the size of second requests.
Guidelines published this week could see the size of FTC second requests — one of the most burdensome requests any merger faces — shrink substantially. Among other things, the changes will make it harder for FTC staff to punish parties who question the size of a request. More

Steel Hector recruits ex-US ambassador for Latin role
December 13
US and Latin American law firm Steel Hector & Davis has hired Manuel Rocha, the former US ambassador to Bolivia. Rocha will become senior counsellor to the firm’s international trade and government affairs practice. More

Pitofsky honoured with lifetime achievement award
December 13
Robert Pitofsky has been given the Miles W Kirkpatrick Award for Lifetime Federal Trade Commission Achievement. The award was announced in Washington on December 4. More

Morris clarifies ‘profitability’ criterion
December 6
Derek Morris, the chairman of the UK Competition Commission, has clarified a recent statement to the effect that ‘profitability’ would become a central plank in UK merger review. Addressing the thirteenth annual Linklaters/DTI competition law seminar, Morris said that a newspaper had misrepresented comments made on the subject during an interview and defined competition as a state of "continuous rivalry", a rivalry which can be enhanced by efficiency gains. More

RBB and Economists Inc announce link
December 6
Competition economics firms RBB Economics and Economists Incorporated have announced the signing of a transatlantic alliance, to take effect immediately. The affiliation will be directed at complex trans-national merger work and other antitrust matters. More

Swiss Competition Commission appoints vice-chair
December 6
Yves Flückiger, a professor at Geneva University, has been elected as the new vice-president of the Swiss Competition Commission. Flückiger, who teaches economics, has been a member of the Commission since 1996. His promotion was announced on November 29 2002, as part of the series of staff announcements. More

Moquet Borde adds to Paris competition team
December 6
Béatrice Honorat is joining Moquet Borde & Associés in Paris as a partner. Honorat has just spent three years at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood in Washington DC. More

King & Spalding puts trade team into London
December 6
King & Spalding has announced that two trade lawyers will be among the start up team at its new London office. The office will open in January 2003. More

News feature
Tied up in the timetable - the EC's merger reform
Mario Monti's new checks and balances face a built-in obstacle, says Mathew Heim More

New EU merger regulation before Christmas
December 2
The European Union has set December 11 as the date for adoption a new horizontal merger regulation. The news filtered out from speeches and announcements by individual members of DG Comp on November 27. DG Comp has also rejected the idea of switching to a substantial lessening of competition test. More

Microsoft bags Jean-Yves Art
December 2
Coudert Frères competition partner Jean-Yves Art has joined Microsoft as its senior European antitrust lawyer.
The Redmond, California based software giant has created a new post especially for Art: ‘Director of Competition Law’. He will have responsibility for all competition matters in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. More

Gibson Dunn adds a competition partner in Texas
December 2
Jon Shepherd is to be made partner in Gibson Dunn & Crutcher’s Dallas antitrust group. The appointment will beef up the existing group in the southwest, where John Crews was until now the sole partner. More

Dutch enforcer to merge with telecoms regulator
December 2
NMa, the Dutch competition enforcer, is to amalgamate with the post and telecommunications regulator OPTA, it has been announced. The two bodies, which already cooperate in a number of areas, could combine as early as July 2003 when the Dutch regulatory framework is revamped. More

OFT appoints new directors of competition
December 2
Becket McGrath and Christiane Kent are to be the new directors of competition enforcement at the UK Office of Fair Trading. McGrath’s brief covers investigations in the media, sport and information technology sectors, while Kent will be responsible for the consumer goods industries. More