Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
I am driven by curiosity about how things work, particularly when it comes to complex products and business models. The work I enjoy most requires both legal rigour and a real understanding of what's driving the business commercially. Most of my career has been in heavily regulated industries, especially energy, where I have advised on some of the defining cases of the past decade. Besides my primary role as an in-house lawyer, I act as an independent antitrust counsel and teach competition law to future practitioners at the Berlin School of Law and Economics. This is a private profile. Views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author's employer or any affiliated organizations.
As Head of Legal, I lead the in-house function for E.ON's Energy Infrastructure Solutions segment (EIS). My team covers legal, compliance, data protection, and internal controls, with a functional remit that extends to the lawyers based in the segment's operating units. EIS is one of the three core segments of the E.ON Group. Together, our central and local EIS teams comprise around 8,000 colleagues developing, building and operating decarbonised heating, cooling and on-site energy infrastructure for industrial, commercial and municipal customers in 14 countries.
In my annual antitrust lecture, I cover European and German antitrust law in depth – cartels, vertical agreements, abuse of dominance, and merger control. Beyond the theoretical foundation, a particular focus is on practical application and best practices for handling in-house antitrust matters. I take pride in teaching future in-house lawyers. More importantly, the exchange with students consistently brings new perspectives and pushes me to further refine my own practice.
Group-wide responsibility for European and German antitrust and competition law. Handled cross-border merger filings, represented internal clients before the Federal Cartel Office, the European Commission and courts, and advised on distribution and compliance matters. Expertise in foreign direct investment law and the EU FSR. Responsible for recruiting and mentoring legal trainees within the central legal department of E.ON SE. Established a joint training programme with a leading Magic Circle firm.
My practice covered all aspects of competition law, in particular the coordination of complex multijurisdictional merger control matters and antitrust proceedings before the European Commission and German Federal Cartel Office. I have represented clients in competition litigation cases both on an EU and national level and regularly advised on distribution-related competition matters and antitrust compliance. Responsible for recruiting and mentoring legal trainees within Linklaters' German antitrust and foreign investment group.