Overview
(April 6, 2018, Brussels) — Steptoe is pleased to announce that Dr. Paul Hughes, previously located in the firm’s London office, has joined the firm’s Brussels-based EU competition team as of counsel. Hughes has considerable experience from private practice in London and as a senior academic at a number of UK universities. He focuses his EU and UK competition practice on compliance and investigations, mergers, strategic joint ventures, distribution and IP licensing. Hughes also brings first-rate supply chain and commercial contracts experience, and advises on privacy and data protection.
“Paul’s relocation to Brussels is terrific news for us and our clients. He is an impressive and collegial competition and privacy lawyer. We are fortunate to have him on the ground in Brussels to help us manage our increasing workflow, particularly as businesses prepare for Brexit,” said Yves Botteman, Steptoe’s head of antitrust. “He also reinforces our antitrust capabilities at the intersection of copyright and data protection laws.”
Hughes is a solicitor of England, Wales and Ireland. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, an LL.M in EU Law from the University of Essex and a B.A. in jurisprudence from the University of Oxford. He also has a postgraduate diploma in EU and US copyright law from King’s College London and a certificate in data protection practice from the Law Society of Ireland.
Steptoe’s EU Competition practice helps clients anticipate and manage risks associated with doing business in Europe. The team advises on distribution and e-commerce, merger and joint ventures, and exclusionary practices and also provides antitrust compliance, conducts audits and defends corporations in cartel investigations before the commission (DG COMP) as well as national competition authorities, in appeals before the EU Court of Justice, and in follow-on litigation in civil courts. Clients call upon Steptoe’s in-depth antitrust experience at the intersection of copyright and patent laws as well as on emerging issues associated with big data and artificial intelligence.
Steptoe’s Brussels lawyers focus their practices primarily on EU law. The firm’s multidisciplinary teams (lawyers, policy advisors, and scientists), collaborate closely with colleagues in the US, the UK, and China to help clients anticipate and mitigate legal risks globally and efficiently through a cross-jurisdictional and multicultural approach. Steptoe helps clients with regulatory issues and disputes arising from the implementation of EU law and regulation in EU competition, chemicals, environment and life sciences, international trade, customs, export control, sanctions, and data protection; and financial services and re/insurance.
About Steptoe
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.