Georg M. Berrisch

Dr. Georg Berrisch, a German Rechtsanwalt, is recognized as one of the most experienced and effective litigators before the Court of Justice and the General Court of the EU.  He is known for vigorously defending the interests and rights of his clients and for developing effective legal and political strategies in complex contentious proceedings before the European Commission and other EU institutions, in areas such as competition, state aid, and trade.

Dr. Berrisch has represented numerous public and private sector clients in nearly 200 cases over the past several years before the Court of Justice and the General Court of the EU.  His litigation experience before the two EU Courts covers a broad range of subject matters including:

• competition (cartels, merger control, abuse of dominant position);
• state aid;
• international trade (anti-dumping and anti-subsidy, customs, trade sanctions, agricultural levies);
• pharmaceuticals;
• consumer protection and passenger rights;
• access to documents under the EU Transparency regulation; and
• EU constitutional law as well as fundamental rights law.

Representative Matters

Litigation

• Representing Ryanair in its appeal against the Commission’s February 2013 merger control decision prohibiting Ryanair to acquire control of Aer Lingus (Case T-260/13).
• Representing Samsung SDI in its appeal against the Commission’s CRT cartel decision (Case T-84/13).
• Representing AbbVie in two annulment applications and one request for interim measures relating to decisions of the European Medical Agency to protect AbbVie’s confidential commercial information (Cases T-29/13; T-44/13 and T-4/13R).
• Representing Ryanair before the Court of Justice in a reference case from the OLG Koblenz concerning alleged state aid in relation to Ryanair’s operations at the Frankfurt-Hahn airport (Case C-284/12).
• Representing a Russian business man challenging a decision by Council to include him in the list of designated persons of the EU’s economic sanctions against Belorussia and advising him on the impact of that decision on his business operations in the EU.
• Represented and representing the Council of the European Union in more than 140 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases before the Court of Justice and the General Court of the EU. 
• Representing Microsoft as intervener in a case brought by Cisco challenging the Commission’s decision to approve Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype under the EU Merger Control Regulation (Case T-79/12).
• Represented HP before the Court of Justice in a reference case from the German Supreme Court concerning copyright levies on printers and computers (Joined Cases C-457-461/11).
• Representing the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as intervener in a case before the General Court concerning a complaint that WADA’s anti-doping rules are incompatible with EU competition law (Case T-508/09 and C-269/12P).
• Represented Ryanair before the Court of Justice in a reference case concerning obligations of airlines under the EU passenger rights regulation in relation to the 2010 ash cloud incident (Case C-12/11).

Honors and Rankings

• PLC Which Lawyer?, EU Competition/Anti-Trust (2010-2012), EU State Aid, and Life Sciences: Competition/Anti-trust (2012)
• PLC as a leading practitioner in the field of EU Competition (2008-2010).
• Legal 500 EMEA as a leading practitioner in the fields of Competition and Customs, Trade, WTO, and Anti-dumping - Belgium (2010-2012).
• Legal Experts UK (2010)
• Chambers Europe as a leading practitioner in the field of WTO/International Trade and Competition/European Law (2008-2013).
• Chambers Global as a leading practitioner in the field of Competition/European Law (Belgium), International Trade/WTO (Belgium) and International Trade/WTO (Europe-wide) (2009-2013).
• JUVE, Customs & Trade, Leading WTO Lawyer (2008-2010)
• JUVE, Customs & Trade, Leading EU Market Regulations Lawyer (2010)
• Who's Who Legal, Trade & Customs and Competition (2008-2013)
• Best Lawyers in Belgium, Competition/Antitrust (2013) ; Trade (2009-2013)
• The World's Leading International Trade Lawyers (2010)

Pro Bono

• Representing Transparency International in a libel case before the Landgericht Berlin against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
• Representing the Association of Corporate Counsel Europe as intervener in a case concerning the scope of legal privilege for in-house counsel in EU cartel investigations (Case T-253/03).

Memberships and Affiliations

• Member of the Permanent Delegation of the CCBE to the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance of the European Communities.  The CCBE is the official representation of the bars and law societies in the EU Member States.
• Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht (German Antitrust Lawyers Association)
• Member of the Advisory Board to the editors of the EuZW, the leading German legal publication on EU economic law.

Publications and Speeches

• Published numerous articles in German and English and lectures regularly on European Community and trade law matters.

• "EU Implements New Iran Sanctions," Covington E-Alert (1/9/2013), Co-Author
• "EU Strengthens Sanctions Against Iran and Syria Extends the Application of the Sanctions Against Belarus," Covington E-Alert (10/19/2012), Co-Author
• "Standard of Review by the General Court: How to Maximise Your Chances of Getting a Proper Review," Bringing and Defending Litigation Against EU Institutions (3/1/2012)