Profile details
About Dr. Ole Schley
Ole assists clients before German and EU regulators and courts across the full range of competition law matters. His practice covers antitrust and regulatory aspects of global M&A transactions, antitrust litigation, cartels and dominance proceedings, as well as new digital regulation.
He is a leading member of the firm's TMT group and has significant sector experience in advising tech and digital platform clients, particularly with a view to the EU's Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act, as well as the German GWB10 “gatekeeper” amendments. He is also an experienced litigator who has litigated antitrust cases against regulators and private plaintiffs before the EU’s highest court, the European Court of Justice, as well as regional courts and higher regonal courts in Germany.
Ole frequently advises clients on complex cross-border transactions, where he coordinates filings under the applicable merger and foreign direct investment regimes, as well as under the new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation. In addition, he advises clients on sustainability cooperations and frequently publishes on a range of legal topics.
Ole has experience working in our offices in New York, Berlin and London.
Recent work
Ole's experience includes advising:
- Meta on the newly enacted EU Digital Markets Act, including Meta’s “gatekeeper” designation, the specification of its “core platform services” and its ongoing global compliance preparation.
- Meta on its ongoing appeal before the European General Court against the European Commission’s designation of certain of its “core platform services” under the EU Digital Markets Act – one of three first-ever challenges to be brought before the Court.
- An industrial client on its ongoing appeal before the European Court of Justice against the European Commission’s decision to block a merger.
- A leading automotive company on its defence in the landmark “Car Emissions” antitrust proceeding by the European Commission, which for the first time applied a “sustainability” theory of harm.
- A private equity fund on its acquisition of genome editing company focused on developing curative therapeutics using CRISPR/Cas9 technology.
- A private equity fund on its acquisition of a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of next-generation immunotherapies.
- Catalent on its acquisition of RheinCell Therapeutics, a developer of human induced pluripotent stem cells.
- Altor and SMS on the acquisition of a 50 percent stake in KAEFER Isoliertechnik, a provider of technical industrial services.
- Etex on its acquisition of acquisition of URSA, a European provider of insulation solutions.
- Beiersdorf on its acquisition of Chantecaille, a producer of skincare and cosmetics.
- An industrial client on its defence an antitrust proceeding by German Federal Cartel Office.
- A tech company on its defence in an abuse of dominance investigation by the German Federal Cartel Office.
- A leading automotive company on its global data strategy.
Qualifications
Education
- Legal Traineeship (Referendariat) at the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg, with placements at commercial law firms in Hamburg and New York, the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection in Berlin and the Foreign Office, German Embassy in Beijing
- Law studies at the Universitiy of Hamburg and the China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing
Professional qualifications
- Attorney at law (Rechtsanwalt), Germany
Professional memberships
- Antitrust Law Study Group (Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht)
- Competition Litigation Forum
- German-Chinese Lawyer's Association