Hogan Lovells Cadwalader strengthens Brussels antitrust practice with merger control partner hire

Michael Frese has more than 10 years of experience advising companies on all aspects of EU competition law and on various areas of EU and national market regulation, including the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act. He has worked on numerous high-profile multi-jurisdictional merger filings and represents companies in investigations by authorities in Europe and abroad, as well as in proceedings before the European courts.

His practice spans a wide range of sectors, with a particular interest in Life Sciences and Health Care, as well as Technology, Consumer, Transportation and Logistics, and Sports, Media and Entertainment. A Dutch national admitted in Brussels, Michael Frese advises clients in both English and Dutch, and represents clients before the European Commission, as well as the Belgian and Dutch competition authorities.

Janice Hogan, Practice Group Leader of Hogan Lovells Cadwalader’s Global Regulatory & IP practice, said: “Brussels is where clients expect their most significant mergers and investigations to be led and globally coordinated, and strengthening our antitrust capability there is a clear strategic priority for the firm. Michael brings exactly the depth of large-scale, multi-jurisdictional merger control experience our clients are asking for, and his life sciences focus connects directly with our Tier 1 regulatory practice across Europe and the United States.”

Christoph Wuenschmann, Global co-head of Hogan Lovells Cadwalader’s Antitrust and Competition practice, added: “Michael has spent his career at the most complex end of the merger control market, coordinating filings across dozens of jurisdictions for some of the largest transactions in recent years. He will work seamlessly with our antitrust, trade, and corporate teams on both sides of the Atlantic, and his arrival adds real senior capacity for clients navigating an increasingly interventionist global regulatory environment.”

Michael Frese said: “Hogan Lovells Cadwalader offers a genuinely global platform of the kind that clients now need when a single transaction can turn on regulatory outcomes in a dozen jurisdictions at once. I have been impressed by the ambition for the Brussels office and by the strength of the firm’s regulatory, life sciences and trade practices, and I am looking forward to working with colleagues here and across the network to help clients navigate an increasingly complex EU and global competition landscape.”

Michael Frese’s arrival further strengthens Hogan Lovells Cadwalader’s antitrust, regulatory and compliance offering in Brussels and globally. His hire follows the arrivals of David Emanuelson in San Francisco, Elai Katz in New York and Jiaming Zhang in Hong Kong, reinforcing the firm’s ability to service clients from coast to coast in the U.S. and around the globe.