People
Salomé Cisnal de Ugarte is a partner in the Brussels office and is part of the firm’s Global Antitrust practice. She provides strategic and legal advice to companies and investors in complex competition matters, with a particular emphasis on merger control, antitrust complaints and global investigations. She represents clients before the European Commission, national competition authorities and the European Courts. She is known for her particular experience in the digital and sustainable economy. Politico Europe ranked her as one of the 20 “Women Who Shape Brussels.” Global Competition Review has named her as one of the world’s top antitrust lawyers in their Top “Women in Antitrust” 2021 report.
Praised by clients for her "brilliant" and "spot-on advice on the legal issues, as well as on the required strategy to get the best results,” companies come to Salomé for solutions on their most complex antitrust issues. She advises on all aspects of EU competition law and has substantial experience in cross-border mergers and joint ventures, high-stakes investigations and complex vertical issues.
Salomé regularly advises public and private companies and private equity firms in phase I and phase II merger cases before the European Commission and national competition authorities in multijurisdictional competition procedures. With increasing cooperation among antitrust agencies, she helps clients navigate complex reviews, negotiate remedies and obtain clearance, while coordinating filings and strategy all over the world. Salomé also routinely counsels on competition issues relating to the digital and sustainable economy, such as distribution and e-commerce, cooperation agreements and technology licensing agreements.
Recognized as a leading EU competition lawyer by publications, such as, Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, Global Competition Review and Who's Who Legal, she also frequently writes and lectures on EU competition law. In addition, Politico Europe has named her one of the 20 “Women Who Shape Brussels” for her work as an EU antitrust lawyer.
She currently serves as Elected Director on the Board of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) in Cambridge (US) and is the past President of the Harvard Club of Belgium. In 2021 she was appointed Fellow of Aspen Spain.
Prior to joining King & Spalding, Salomé was a leader at other world-class law firms in the Antitrust & Competition space.
Recent Publications
EU Competition Policy for the Digital Age – Key Developments and Emerging Trends
By Salome Cisnal de Ugarte, Stelios Charitopoulos - October 23, 2019 - https://www.competitionpolicyinternational.com/eu-competition-policy-for-the-digital-age-key-developments-and-emerging-trends/
Huawei/ZTE: Towards a More Demanding Standard of Abuse in Essential Patent Cases.
By Sean-Paul Brankin, Salomé Cisnal de Ugarte, Lisa Kimmel
Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, Volume 7, Issue 8, 15 August 2016, Pages 520–524, https://doi.org/10.1093/jeclap/lpw042
Recent Speaking Engagements
Will speak on a panel relating to “Dynamic Competition: A new paradigm for economics?” at the LIDC Congress, September 2021 - https://www.lidc2021.com/
Will speak about EU antitrust developments at Harvard University, October 2021
Spoke at webinar about “Sustainability Considerations in Competition Enforcement”, organized by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, March 2021 - https://www.biicl.org/events/11435/sustainability-considerations-in-competition-enforcement
Spoke about AI and Antitrust law as one of the three keynote speakers at the 2020 AI Convention Europe, October 2020 - https://ai-convention.com/speakers-2020/
Moderated a panel about “Antitrust in the global context: Geopolitics, Digital Regulation, Trade Reform and the Green Deal” as Vice-Chair, Competition Policy Committee, during the 37th Annual Competition Policy Conference at AmCham EU, November 2020 http://www.amchameu.eu/competition-policy-conference
Executive Education from the International Directors Program, INSEAD
Ph.D. Law, European University Institute, Florence
LL.M., Harvard Law School
B.A., University of Deusto, Spain
J.D., University of Deusto, Spain, summa cum laude
Brussels
Madrid
ABA Antitrust Section
Asociación Española para la Defensa de la Competencia (Spanish Association for Antitrust Law)
Aspen Spain, Fellow
Elected Director, Board of Directors, Harvard Alumni Association (HAA)
IDArb, IDI arbitrator for international distribution
International Bar Association (IBA), Antitrust Committee
Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht (German Association for Antitrust Law)
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
March 28, 2022
Schweitzer-Mauduit International to Combine with Neenah
March 17, 2022
Chambers Europe Recognizes King & Spalding Among Top International Law Firms in its 2022 Guide
Obtained unconditional merger clearance from the European Commission for Transurban, one of the world’s largest toll-road operators, on its US$2.1 billion sale of a 50 percent interest in its Transurban Chesapeake assets to investors AustralianSuper and UniSuper, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
Advised Dana Incorporated on the merger control and competition aspects related to its planned acquisition of the thermal automotive management business of Modine and coordination of filings in Europe and Asia.
Advised One Rock Capital Partners on the merger control aspects relating to the acquisition of CastFutura, a leading provider of combustion, safety and ignition products for cooking and heating applications, by its affiliate Robertshaw, a global engineering and manufacturing company.
See more
May 19, 2022
European Commission Adopts New Rules on Vertical Agreements
May 12, 2022
Moroccan Competition Authority Imposes Its First Gun Jumping Fine
February 28, 2022
A New Era for European Merger Control: An Increasingly Fragmented and Uncertain Regulatory Landscape
March 28, 2022
Schweitzer-Mauduit International to Combine with Neenah
March 17, 2022
Chambers Europe Recognizes King & Spalding Among Top International Law Firms in its 2022 Guide
Obtained unconditional merger clearance from the European Commission for Transurban, one of the world’s largest toll-road operators, on its US$2.1 billion sale of a 50 percent interest in its Transurban Chesapeake assets to investors AustralianSuper and UniSuper, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
Advised Dana Incorporated on the merger control and competition aspects related to its planned acquisition of the thermal automotive management business of Modine and coordination of filings in Europe and Asia.
Advised One Rock Capital Partners on the merger control aspects relating to the acquisition of CastFutura, a leading provider of combustion, safety and ignition products for cooking and heating applications, by its affiliate Robertshaw, a global engineering and manufacturing company.
See more
May 19, 2022
European Commission Adopts New Rules on Vertical Agreements
May 12, 2022
Moroccan Competition Authority Imposes Its First Gun Jumping Fine
February 28, 2022
A New Era for European Merger Control: An Increasingly Fragmented and Uncertain Regulatory Landscape
March 28, 2022
Schweitzer-Mauduit International to Combine with Neenah
March 17, 2022
Chambers Europe Recognizes King & Spalding Among Top International Law Firms in its 2022 Guide
Executive Education from the International Directors Program, INSEAD
Ph.D. Law, European University Institute, Florence
LL.M., Harvard Law School
B.A., University of Deusto, Spain
J.D., University of Deusto, Spain, summa cum laude
Brussels
Madrid
ABA Antitrust Section
Asociación Española para la Defensa de la Competencia (Spanish Association for Antitrust Law)
Aspen Spain, Fellow
Elected Director, Board of Directors, Harvard Alumni Association (HAA)
IDArb, IDI arbitrator for international distribution
International Bar Association (IBA), Antitrust Committee
Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht (German Association for Antitrust Law)
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish