EU: European Recovery Plan

Fiona Carlin is the head of the EU Competition & Regulatory Affairs practice in Brussels. She is the former Chief Executive of much of Baker McKenzie’s EMEA Region and the former Chair of the Firm’s Global Competition and Antitrust Law Practice comprising more than 320 lawyers in over 40 countries. She has remained an active practitioner throughout her various leadership roles with a particular focus on regulated industries.
Fiona is also the Chair of the European Advisory Board of Catalyst, a leading non-profit organisation dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and business. She was a founding and long-standing member of Baker McKenzie's Global Diversity & Inclusion Committee and is dedicated to creating an inclusive high performance culture where the talent of our lawyers and business professionals can flourish.
Fiona has been listed in "The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers" since 2009, and is among Global Competition Review's Top 100 Women in Antitrust. Chambers quotes clients as citing her "legal and pragmatic advice" and describing her as "globally minded".

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Christopher Jones is a Principal in the European Competition Law Practice Group in the Brussels office. He joined Baker McKenzie in 2018.

Christopher's career has spanned more than 30 years at the European Commission, focusing on energy policy and competition policy.

During the last two decades, Christopher held a wide range of key energy posts including Director for Renewable Energy, Energy research and Energy Efficiency, Deputy Head of Cabinet for the Energy Commissioner and Deputy Director General for Energy.

He has been at the forefront of many major key energy and competition law decisions and innovations. He played a key role in the evolution of EU competition law towards the more economic and market based instrument it is today, and was instrumental in the successful implementation of EU merger control. He was the central EU official in opening up energy markets to competition as well as developing and implementing the core of the EU's energy policy as it is today; driving the '20-20-20' renewables and energy efficiency decarbonisation agendas, and setting the gas strategy and research policies.

Christopher is also an expert on competition policy, having spent 11 years in the field including responsibility for antitrust and mergers in the Cabinet of the Energy Commissioner, and as personal Policy Assistant to two Directors' General.

He is a leading academic in the competition and energy areas, as a part-time Professor at the European University Institute, editing and co-authoring a number of standard text books on Competition Law and Energy Markets, the Internal Energy Market, and EU Renewable Law and Policy, as well as books on merger control and the standard competition law reference work, the EU Competition Law Handbook.

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Paul Johnson is an of counsel in Baker McKenzie Brussels’ European & Competition Law Practice. He is an English qualified solicitor and has been practicing in Brussels and the UK for over 10 years. Before joining the Firm, Mr. Johnson worked as a technical specialist in the Competition Department of the UK Financial Conduct Authority. He also worked in private practice in Brussels and London, representing clients on numerous high-profile cases before the European Commission and national competition authorities and regulators around the world.

Els Janssens is a Counsel in commercial law, litigation and healthcare regulatory issues in the Brussels office. Els worked as a senior regulatory legal counsel for Johnson & Johnson supporting the company's global safety operations and advising on regulatory issues in relation to specific medicinal products. Els also worked as legal advisor in the European Medicines Agency where she advised management, scientific committees, CMD(h) and the European Commission on a wide variety of issues in connection with authorisation procedures, submission requirements, pharmacovigilance obligations and procedures as well as inspections. Based in Abu Dhabi from 2014 to 2019, she advised both multinational medical devices and pharmaceutical clients on healthcare regulations in the EU and UAE.

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Klaus-Dieter Borchardt is a Senior Energy Advisor at the European & Competition Law Practice in the Baker McKenzie Brussels office. He joined the Firm in 2020. Klaus-Dieter worked for 33 years at the European Commission, including four years at the European Court of Justice. When he left the European Commission, he was Deputy Director General for Energy. Klaus-Dieter is also an expert in EU Law, having spent 12 years in the Commissions' Legal Service where he was responsible for state aid, internal market and agriculture. He is a Professor at the Julius-Maximilians-University, author of a standard textbook on EU Law and co-editor of a commentary of the EU Treaties.

Nina Niejahr is a senior counsel in the Firm's Brussels-based EU Competition & Regulatory Affairs Practice. She has over 20 years of experience in advising clients on all aspects of EU law, focusing on State aid and competition law. Nina is ranked by Chambers for her State aid practice and listed by Who's Who Legal and the German JUVE directory as recommended/"oft empfohlen". Nina also regularly litigates in the EU Courts in Luxembourg. She has published and speaks at seminars and conferences on a variety of topics of EU State aid law and litigation.

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