Pietro Merlino

Practice Areas

Pietro Merlino is the Head of Orrick’s Italian Antitrust & Competition practice group, based in the Rome office.

Pietro assists clients in connection with the application of EU and Italian competition rules across a wide range of industry sectors, from energy to media, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, automotive, consumer goods and transportations. He advises and represents Italian and international players in all areas of competition law, including abuse of dominance, cartel and restrictive practices investigations, merger control, licensing and distribution, as well as on general EU law issues.

He regularly appears before the EU courts and Italian civil and administrative courts, as well as before the European Commission and the Italian Competition Authority.

Over the years, Pietro has developed a particularly strong expertise in the application of competition rules in the life sciences’ sector, where he was involved in some of the most prominent antitrust cases of the past decade, as well as in the energy and transportation sectors. In addition, he focussed extensively on the interplay between antitrust law and intellectual property rights.

Pietro frequently authors publications on antitrust matters, and lectures at various Italian universities and he regularly participates as a speaker at conferences and seminars in Italy and abroad.