José Rivas

Practice Areas

Competition law

Career

With over 30 years based in Brussels, Jose's practice is a leading authority in competition law, covering articles 101 and 102, state aid, merger control and more.

Jose is the longest-practicing Spanish lawyer in the private EU Law practice in Brussels, having spent over 30 years in the capital of Europe. He has built up extensive litigation experience before the European Courts in Luxembourg, representing clients in more than 100 cases, including three in the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice.

Jose also represented clients under investigation, obtained phase I and phase II merger control clearance and filed complaints with the European Commission and other national competition authorities. He organises anti-trust audits to help identify current or potential infringements and devise compliance programmes to help prevent future infringements.

Working with colleagues across his team, Jose has extensive experience of representing leading US, Japanese and European clients in sectors including aviation, ICT, media, retail, sports and food & beverage.

Before joining Bird & Bird in 2009, Jose was head of the Brussels office at a leading US law firm and co-head of its European competition group.

He is the Editor of World Competition, Law and Economics Journal (Wolters Kluwer) and, as well as writing extensively on competition law, he is a frequent conference speaker. Jose is am a member of the Working Groups on Competition and State Aids of the European Confederation of Business Associations (Business Europe) and sits on the Executive Committee of the Global Competition Law Centre. From 2000 until 2020, he was a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Natolin (Warsaw).

Personal

Studied:

Law Degree, Zaragoza (Spain) University

College of Europe, Masters in EU Law (Bruges)

Visiting professor College of Europe (Natolin)

Admissions:

Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Madrid and Brussels Bar