Dr. René Galle
René is partner at Hausfeld in Germany. He advises on the entire spectrum of German and EU Competition Law. He is a frequently recommended antitrust lawyer (i.a. Handelsblatt, Who’s Who Legal, Legal500, Expert Guides), co-heads Germany’s antitrust lawyer’s association (Northern Chapter), regularly publishes articles and speaks on conferences. He possesses a deep economic understanding.
René has a particular focus on complex competition litigation cases, which include follow-on and stand-alone damages actions, preliminary injunctions, arbitration proceedings, and seeking judicial review against decisions from the German Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission. He regularly represents clients in competition law compliance matters, competition law related investigations and merger control proceedings. He also advises on rules on vertical restraints.
1.State Exam, Humboldt-University Berlin
2.State Exam, Higher Regional Court Berlin
LL.M. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
Ph.D. in Competition Law, thesis: „An economic approach to antitrust law – a comparison between EU Competition law including its “more economic approach” and U.S. Antitrust Law
Secondment at the Litigation Department of a leading Magic Circle law firm in London
Attorney, Germany
Damages for abuse of a dominant market position – Thoughts on effective private enforcement (with P. Voges), WuW 2025, pp. 73-83
Antitrust Aspects of Bidding Consortia in M&A Transactions: To Jointly Bid or Not to Jointly Bid, That Is the Question (with I. Thanos), E.C.L.R. 2024, pp.387ff
Recent developments in merger control – a global overview of competition authorities’ activities in 2023 (with H. Hermann), M&A Review 2024, pp. 214ff
Trends in cartel enforcement – a global overview of competition authorities’ activities in 2023 (with P. Steinhaeuser), CCZ 6/2024, p. 162 ff
Private enforcement of the DMA – Where do we stand? (with F. Dressel), EuZW 2024, p. 105-115
Sweat dreams: Comment on the Supreme Court Ruling in the Mattress Case, NZKart 2024, p. 91-94
Recent developments in merger control – a global overview of competition authorities’ activities in 2022 (with J. v. Düring), M&A Review 2023, pp. 175-182
Trends in cartel enforcement – a global overview of competition authorities’ activities in 2022 (with P. Steinhaeuser), CCZ 6/2023, p. 161ff.
Ex post review of non-notifiable transaction under the rules of abuse of dominance (comment on ECJ, judgment from 16.03.2023, C-449/21 – Towercast), Der Betrieb 2023, p. 883
The DMA as a Gamechanger for Big Tech: Change, but also for the better?, Handelsblatt blog
Recent developments in merger control – a global overview of competition authorities’ activities in 2021 (with K. Hillmer), M&A Review 2022, pp. 194-201
Trends in cartel enforcement – a global overview of competition authorities’ activities in 2021 (with F. Kolf), CCZ 6/2022, p. 178 ff
The new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation: Revised Competition Rules for Distribution in the wake of digitalization (with F. Popot-Müller), Der Betrieb, 2022, pp. 1561-1567
Clean teams for dirty business: a practitioner’s view on the use of clean teams under competition law rules (with I. Thanos), E.C.L.R. 2022, 43(7), pp. 314-320
BB Comment: The German Supreme Court’s ruling on narrow best price clauses, BB 2021, p. 2068
Recent developments on vertical restraints (with S. Burdinski), EuZW 2021, pp. 439ff.
Comment on The German Supreme Court’s ‘railtrack’ decision (https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/news-and-insights/publications/german-federal-supreme-court-allows-15-percent-lump-sum-damages-clauses-in-private-follow-on-damages-actions)
Comment: The reform of the German Act on Competitive Restraints (10. GWB-Novelle) enters into force – competition law goes digital, Der Betrieb, 2021, M4-5
The German Supreme Court ruling on the beer cartel: Disillusions made in Karlsruhe (with P. Steinhaeuser), NZKart 2020, pp. 30 to 33
Joint defence against private damages claims: A legitimate cooperation or yet another cartel?, WuW 2020, pp. 576 to 580 ff.
BB Comment on the Facebook decision by the German Supreme Court, Betriebsberater 2020, pp. 2061 f.
The modernization of the rules on abuse of dominance: Some thoughts on the upcoming legislative reform (10. GWB-Novelle) and beyond, Der Betrieb 2020, pp. 1274 ff.
Trends in cartel enforcement – A global overview of competition authorities’ activities in 2019 (with L. Rengier), CCZ 6/2020, pp. 218 to 225
Recent developments in merger control – A global overview of competition authorities’ activities in 2019 (with S. Burdinski), in M&A Review 2020, pp. 144 to 151
Reductions of fines for vertical restraints (with T. Göckler), EuZW 2019, p. 1010ff
Trends in cartel enforcement – a snapshot of global antitrust enforcement in 2018 (with L. Rengier), CCZ 6/2019, p. 883 to 889
Comment on the Report of the Commission on Competition Law 4.0, in DB, 2019, No. 42, M4-6
BB-Comment on the facebook-decision of the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf, BB 2019, p. 2516
Sanctions against non-compliance with disclosure obligations under Sect. 33g ARC (with F. Popot-Müller), NZKart 2019, p. 317ff
Recent developments in merger control – a global perspective (with K. Busche), in M&A Review 2019, p. 154 to 160
Restraints on online sales in selective distribution systems, Der Betrieb, 2019, p. 288 to 292
Comment: ‘Plaintiffs welcome‘ – the German Supreme Court takes a plaintiff friendly approach on follow-on damages claims, Betriebsberater 2018, p. 1620
Recent developments in merger control – a global perspective (with T. Göckler), M&A Review 6/2018, p. 226 to 232
Internal Investigations of competition law infringements, BB 2018, p. 564-571
The single complex and continuous infringement under German competition law (with L. Rengier), NZKart 2017, p. 229-235
The prima facia evidence rule in follow-on damages claims, NZKart 5/2016, p. 214-220
‘Best price clauses, an on-going competition law issue’, BB-Comment, BB 11/2015, p. 596
Best price clauses of hotel booking sites and competition law, WuW 6/2014, p.587-596 (with M. Nauck)
Towards a more effective judicial review of fines imposed by the European Commission: Recent developments in the General Court’s case law (with E. Braun), in: CCZ 3/2013, p. 108ff.
Competition Litigation in the European Union: recent developments, in: Global Trends in Antitrust, p. 41ff, 1st ed. 2013, A&O e-publication (with J. Hitchin, P. Arnold, E. Besselink)
René is a frequently recommended competition lawyer. Legal500 calls him a ‘Rising Star – Antitrust’ (2024) and Handelsblatt named him ‘Antitrust Lawyer of the Year (Hamburg)’ in 2023. He is continuously listed as a leading antitrust lawyer in various directories such as Expert Guides (since 2021), Handelsblatt/Best Lawyers (since 2019) and Who’s Who Legal (since 2018). Clients and peers consider him 'exceptionally sound in every area of competition law' and value 'his special understanding of and access to economic contexts' (WWL).