Latham & Watkins is pleased to announce that Christos Malamataris has re-joined the firm’s Brussels office as partner in the Antitrust & Competition Practice. Malamataris joins from the European Commission’s Director General for Competition, where most recently he served as an official focused on merger control, policy and strategy, and new merger-related legislation.
“We are thrilled to welcome Christos back to Latham,” said Lars Kjolbye, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins in Brussels. “He is a fantastic lawyer and a great fit with our team. His return to the firm adds further senior expertise and leadership to our already strong European practice.”
Malamataris’ practice spans all fields of competition law, including merger control, conduct cases (abuse of dominance and restrictive agreements), State aid, EU regulatory principles, and litigation. He has particular expertise in the technology, life sciences, and financial services industries as well as novel areas of EU merger control, including innovation theories of harm, killer acquisitions, and procedural infringements.
“Christos is a leader, an outstanding strategist, and a dedicated team player,” said Jacques-Philippe Gunther, Global Vice Chair of the firm’s Antitrust & Competition Practice. “He is well-known for his commercial mindset and exceptional technical skill, particularly in relation to complex cross-border transactions and investigations.”
“Christos’ substantial transactional and regulatory expertise very strongly complements our existing global merger control capabilities,” adds Mandy Reeves, Global Chair of Latham’s Antitrust & Competition Practice. “At a time when the CMA and other international regulators are taking an increasingly active stance in relation to merger control matters, Christos’ experience, insights, and understanding from both sides of the table will be invaluable to the continued growth of the practice. We are thrilled to welcome him back to the team.”
Malamataris holds an L.L.B. from the University of Thessaloniki, an LL.M. from the University of Athens, and an LL.M. from Cambridge University. He re-joins Latham after spending four years working at The European Commission.
Malamataris joins a deep bench of experienced antitrust and competition practitioners at Latham & Watkins with significant agency expertise. Three of the most senior former competition regulatory leaders from the DOJ, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the European Commission have joined Latham. Ian Conner — who served as the Director of the Bureau of Competition at the FTC — joined the firm in March 2021, Carles Esteva Mosso — who served in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition as Deputy Director-General for Mergers (2014-2019) and as Deputy Director-General for State Aid (2019-2021) — joined the firm in June 2021, and Makan Delrahim – who served as Assistant Attorney General (AAG) in the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust Division (2017-2021) – joined the firm in April 2022.
In addition to these leading individuals, the firm’s global antitrust team is home to a dozen more former government officials who joined from the DOJ, FTC, European Commission, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, and China’s Ministry of Commerce.
