José Rivas

Practice Areas

Competition law

Career

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

José 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 amassed 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.

His experience includes representing clients under investigation, obtaining phase I and phase II merger control clearance, and filing complaints with the European Commission and other national competition authorities. He organises anti-trust audits to help identify current or potential infringements and devises compliance programs to help prevent future infringements.

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

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

He serves as the Editor of World Competition, Law and Economics Journal (Wolters Kluwer) and, in addition to writing extensively on competition law, he is a frequent conference speaker. He is 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. José has also been appointed as Non-Governmental Advisor (NGA) to the Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC). From 2000 until 2020, he served as a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Natolin (Warsaw).