CMS

Antitrust, Competition & Trade Associate

CMS

Brussels, Belgium

An excellent opportunity for an ambitious Antitrust, Competition & Trade Associate to join one of the largest Competition Teams in Europe at a future facing, international law firm. You will be based in Brussels, working as part of our CMS EU Law Office team.

About CMS

CMS is a Future Facing firm with more than 70 offices in over 40 countries and 5,000+ lawyers worldwide. We combine deep local market understanding with a global perspective. We are passionate about building strong relationships with our clients, our people, and the communities we work in.

We take a bold, dynamic, and agile approach to ensure our clients are able to face the future with confidence. We are driven by technology and readily embrace the possibilities it opens up for developing new and better ways of working. Our aim is to inspire, impact and support our clients and our people, helping them to maximize their potential and thrive.

About The Role

Our Antitrust, Competition and Trade team handles a broad range of high-quality work including EU (and UK) competition investigations, competition litigation, behavioural advice, mergers and a wide range of EU (and UK) regulatory and trade work, including sanctions. The team also advises extensively on state aid, subsidy and the new EU Foreign Subsidy Regime.

The team is currently expanding and we are looking for a motivated, ambitious Associate to be based in our Brussels EU Law Office. We are looking for EU-qualified candidates with a passion for competition and regulatory law and with an interest in working particularly closely with our highly rated Technology, Media, Life Sciences and Energy teams where we are seeing a continued increase in competition-related instructions.

The section of our Antitrust, Competition and Trade team advertising this vacancy comprises 7 partners and a team of 18 other fee-earners, plus a dedicated Professional Support Lawyer based largely in London, but also in Edinburgh and Brussels. It forms part of a wider Competition Group across CMS comprising more than 225 competition lawyers worldwide. This is therefore an excellent opportunity for someone looking to further their career in a dynamic and internationally focused competition team, with a balanced practice across transactional, contentious and advisory work.

Associates are encouraged to take on high levels of responsibility and client contact is fostered. From day one your role will include business development activities within the team and across the firm’s sector groups. The team undertakes a significant amount of cross-border work, cooperating on a daily basis with our international offices and the role will include travel. We are committed to investing in our team and we provide comprehensive training to develop knowledge and skills.

About You

The ideal candidate will:

• have a solid background and experience/training in EU competition law (which may include UK experience, but the candidate must also be EU qualified with EU experience), a willingness to learn different EU regulatory frameworks, state aid/subsidy and trade law and a general desire for a balanced practice across the different areas of transactional, contentious and advisory work;
• 2-6 years’ qualified experience;
• have excellent communication and drafting skills – the ability to communicate succinctly in English is a must (fluency in a second EU language is also considered an asset);
• have strong commercial acumen and be able to provide clients with focused strategic advice;
• be a collaborative and supportive team player;
• seek opportunity and lead by example;
• be abreast of market trends;
• recognise the importance of service delivery;
• have a positive attitude and drive to secure the role.

Equal Opportunities

At CMS, a next-generation mindset is woven into all we do. We’re diverse, supportive and inclusive, embracing our corporate social responsibility and creating a culture of sustainability in which every one of our people, whatever their background, can maximise their potential and thrive.

For further information about CMS’ diversity initiatives and programmes, please view our diversity pages on our website.

To apply please send your current CV & Cover Letter to our Talent Acquisition Advisor Darren Howard at [email protected].

Application deadline: 30 June 2024
Employment type: Full Time