Alexander Israel

Alexander is a prominent antitrust authority and long-standing adviser to global companies and senior executives. His practice focuses on merger control, cartel defense and abuse of dominance investigations brought by the European Commission and German Federal Cartel Office, as well as related litigation before the European and German courts. He is ranked as a leading practitioner by Chambers, The Legal 500 UK, JUVE, Who’s Who Legal and Global Competition Review (GCR). The Legal 500 client commentary states that Alexander is ‘an outstanding lawyer with deep industry knowledge and always practical advice’, while Chambers respondents praise him for being ‘very hard-working and ambitious’.

Alexander leads a standout team of antitrust lawyers, working on one of the largest caseloads of transactions, investigations and litigation matters – many of which involve novel issues. Alexander’s team was awarded the European Competition or Antitrust Team of the Year at The Lawyer’s 2023 European Awards for an antitrust litigation victory at the European Court of Justice. The Legal 500 UK further commended the team, saying, ‘Cooley's team in Brussels is not only very well connected with all relevant public authorities, but also within the relevant industry, positioning their team uniquely to support our company in all competition law matters’.

Alexander’s experience includes matters relating to technology, life sciences, aviation, automotive and financial services. He regularly handles high-profile cases – including the Air Cargo defense and the CDS defense (both GCR Matters of the Year). He is often asked to speak at conferences and teaches European competition law at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in Winterthur, Switzerland. Alexander has authored multiple publications and client alerts relating to German and European Union competition law.

Representative matters:

• Represented numerous national and international companies in global cartel investigations, in particular in the automotive sector
• Secured full immunity for a leading US company in the EC investigation “Car Battery Recycling”
• Represented WABCO, Trane and Ideal Standard before the General Court in the bathroom fittings cartel case, resulting in a historic fine reduction of €205 million
• Represented a Swiss watch marker in the EC investigation “Independent Watch Repairers,” resulting in a closure
• Represented a Swiss watch maker in proceedings before the European Court and the European Court of Justice
• Represented the European Commission in the case T-441/14 "Power Cables"
• Represented Lufthansa and Swiss in their appeal of the cartel decision “Air Cargo,” achieving the first annulment of an immunity decision (Matter of the Year 2016, Global Competition Review)
• Represented a bearing manufacturer in the European Commission's cartel case “Bearings”
• Represented two European airlines in the EC code share investigation
• Represented a European investment bank in the EC’s proceedings into CDS (various allegations) resulting in a rare closure of the file after the Statement of Objections (Behavioural Matter of the Year 2016, Global Competition Review)
• Represented Lufthansa in the EC’s transatlantic alliance investigation (Star Alliance)
• Coordinated a global defence against private damage claims for antitrust violations
• Represented Lufthansa in the worldwide merger clearances for the acquisitions of Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and bmi, as well as the sale of bmi to IAG
• Represented Cisco in the worldwide merger control clearance of its acquisition of Tandberg and Coreoptics
• Represented Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines before the General Court in cases T-162/10
• Handled numerous EC complaints alleging abuse of dominance and defending such allegations

Selected publications:

• Leniency, Enforcement Powers and Settlements in: Kamann/Ohlhoff/Völcker, Proceedings in Competition Cases, Co-author G. Miersch, 2017
• Specialization Agreements, Munich Commentary on Competition Law, 2. ed., 2015
• Third party appeals in merger cases (with S. Völcker), in: ZWeR 2011, p. 95
• European Merger Control, in: Cologne Compendium Aviation Law, 2010 (with S. Völcker and R. Schütt), p. 566 (English issue 2012)