Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to Open First European Office in Brussels

PALO ALTO, California, and BRUSSELS, September 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and other growth enterprises worldwide, is pleased to announce that it is opening an office in Brussels, Belgium. The office will be led by Michael Rosenthal, previously the managing partner of Hunton & Williams' Brussels office, who will be joined by Gotz Drauz, the former Deputy Director-General for Competition at the European Commission, and former Hunton & Williams partner Paul McGeown, along with a counsel and three associates. The team combines private practice, industry, and high-level government experience and offers a broad spectrum of antitrust and competition services at the European Union and national levels in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The office is expected to open in October.

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"In recent years, the European Commission has become an increasingly important forum for our clients when it comes to antitrust review, particularly concerning mergers and acquisitions and global cartel investigations," said Chairman Larry Sonsini. "Opening an office in Brussels, the seat of the European Commission, is a natural evolution of our mission to serve our clients as they seek to grow and compete on a global basis, and we are excited by the opportunities that it represents."

"We couldn't have asked for a finer team to lead our efforts in the European Union than Michael, Gotz, and Paul," said CEO Steve Bochner. "They are all highly accomplished attorneys whose talents and experience mesh extraordinarily well with the firm's thriving M&A and antitrust practices. It is with great pride that we welcome them to the firm."

Dr. Michael Rosenthal joins the firm from Hunton & Williams, where he successfully built that firm's Brussels office and chaired the European arm of its competition practice. He advises clients on all aspects of EU and German competition law and is listed as a leading competition lawyer in the major legal directories, including Who's Who of Competition Lawyers. Prior to joining Hunton & Williams, Rosenthal was an associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Debevoise & Plimpton in New York.

Named as an "elite" practitioner by Global Competition Review, Gotz Drauz joins the firm from Shearman & Sterling, where he practiced antitrust and competition law; previously he had been a partner in Howrey's Brussels office. In the course of his career, he has represented companies in some of the most significant merger, conduct, and cartel investigations in Europe. Prior to entering private practice, Drauz served for 25 years at the European Commission. In his most recent positions, as the Deputy Director-General for Competition and, before that, as head of the Merger Task Force, he managed and coordinated all of the EC's merger control activity for nearly a decade.

Also joining from Hunton & Williams, Paul McGeown advises clients in a wide range of industries on all aspects of European competition law, with particular expertise in complex merger cases, industrial partnerships, and State aid matters. He has extensive experience representing clients before the EC and United Kingdom competition authorities. Prior to his tenure at Hunton & Williams, McGeown was a partner at Linklaters and, earlier, an associate at Salans in Paris and Slaughter & May in Brussels and London. He also served as in-house competition counsel at a major global engineering corporation.

Please visit http://www.wsgr.com for complete attorney bios and more information on the firm's Brussels office.

About the Antitrust Practice

Widely recognized as one of the top global competition law practices, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's antitrust team is uniquely positioned to assist clients on the most important bet-the-company matters as well as with regular counseling and compliance matters. Primarily based in Washington, D.C., New York City, Silicon Valley, and now Brussels, our antitrust attorneys advise clients with respect to mergers and acquisitions, criminal and civil investigations by government agencies, antitrust litigation, issues involving intellectual property, and cross-border transactions. We also advise clients regarding a full range of counseling matters, including pricing, distribution, vertical restrictions, standard-setting activities, joint ventures, and patent pooling. In working with Fortune 100 global enterprises as well as venture-backed start-up companies, our attorneys have expertise in a broad array of industry sectors, ranging from software and medical devices to energy and media. The firm also has extensive experience representing both U.S. and international clients in antitrust matters before the European Commission and other competition authorities and courts, with particular strength in Europe, the Pacific Rim, India, and Israel.

About Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2011, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati offers a broad range of services and legal disciplines focused on serving the principal challenges faced by the management and boards of directors of business enterprises. The firm is nationally recognized as a leader in the fields of corporate governance and finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, securities litigation, employment law, intellectual property, and antitrust, among many other areas of law. With long-standing roots in Silicon Valley, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has offices in Austin; Brussels; Georgetown, DE; Hong Kong; New York; Palo Alto; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Shanghai; and Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit http://www.wsgr.com.