Paolo Palmigiano joins as new UK Head of Competition

International law firm Taylor Wessing announces the appointment of Paolo Palmigiano as a new partner in its financial services and competition group.

Paolo joins the firm today as Head of Competition in the UK from Sumitomo Electric Industries where he was the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, EMEA.

Paolo spent three years at Lloyds Banking Group as Head of Competition and nine years as Head of Competition and Regulatory Law at BT where he handled several high profile cases.

Partner James Goold commented: "Competition is such a heavily regulated area. Clients need proactive advice and creative solutions to successfully enter new markets, and they need someone who can help prevent or quickly address any problems. Paolo's in-house knowledge and network of senior contacts across multiple sectors makes him one of the best in the industry. We're really pleased to be welcoming him to our team."

Welcoming Paolo to the firm, Managing Partner Shane Gleghorn said: “Paolo is a well-known and respected figure. He is highly regarded in competition advice across TMC and financial services. With competition, antitrust and international trade laws constantly evolving, there is a greater focus on intervention and corresponding rise in contentious activity. Paolo's expertise in contentious and non-contentious issues provides support for our clients who need to stay ahead of these rules."

Paolo is the sixth partner appointment to be announced in the last month in the UK. The firm recently announced the appointments of Nick Storrs and Adrian Toutoungi to the partnership based in the UK, following news of Alison Dennis' appointment as International Co-Head of Life Sciences and Healthcare, which was announced in July. International appointments were also announced in the Middle East with the appointment of Osama Hassan as the new Managing Partner of Taylor Wessing Dubai. Anne Josephus Jitta joined as a partner specialising in arbitration based in the Netherlands, and Barbora Dubanská joined as the firm's Co-Head of Life Sciences in CEE. She is based in Vienna and Prague.

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Notes to editors:

Paolo has an excellent reputation in the market and brings extensive competition law expertise he gained in-house where he worked with CEOs and business people at all levels. Paolo is also very active in the competition policy area and is a Non-Governmental Advisor to the CMA (the UK competition authority). Paolo founded in 2005 and chaired for 14 years ICLA, the association of in-house competition lawyers, with more than 350 members in 23 countries.

Taylor Wessing's International Competition, EU and Trade practice is led by Dr. Marco Hartmann-Rüppel

. The team covers every aspect of competition law and regularly handles complex competition law matters requiring deep technical knowledge. Clients benefit from a team with an outstanding record in cartel investigations and competition litigation before national courts. This includes representing clients on appeals before the European Courts. The team also advise on multi-jurisdictional merger control and have submitted numerous successful notifications to European and national courts. Our experience in technology-rich industries gives us specific expertise on the interface between competition rules and the protection of IP rights. This means we have real strength in the technology, media, financial services, consumer products and life sciences sectors.