De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek

Competition & Regulation

Partner (Competition & Regulation)

Expertise:

Competition & Regulation
Artificial Intelligence
Life Sciences, Pharma & Healthcare
Energy
Tech & Digital
Brexit
Business & Human Rights Litigation
Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)
State Aid

Helen has extensive experience in all aspects of competition law, including merger control, cartels, dominance and vertical restraints. Clients value her in-house and private practice expertise, which allows her to understand business drivers and offer clear and practical advice, even in the most complex of matters.

She regularly advises international companies on their European and international M&A and competition law matters including AkzoNobel, Booking.com, Just Eat Takeaway, Celanese, DSM-Firmenich, TomTom and SHV.

Helen is one of the ACM's five non-governmental advisors supporting the development of competition policy within the International Competition Network. She teaches students of the Grotius Academie and of the Brussels School of Competition Masters programme. She is dual-qualified as both a solicitor (England & Wales) and Dutch advocaat. Helen is also included in Global Competition Review's prestigious Women in Antitrust list and is part of the leadership team of W@ NL, a platform to promote female talent in the area of competition law.

"She is very knowledgeable and comes up with pragmatic solutions."- Chambers Europe 2024

Helen's recent work includes advising:

SHV on its sale of ERIKS to Lone Star, requiring multiple regulatory filings Akzo Nobel on its attempted acquisition of paint competitor, Kansai, in Africa requiring multiple merger control filings, including a South African Phase-2 merger control litigation process Booking.com in relation to litigation in the Court of Amsterdam and before the European Court of Justice in relation to price parity clauses Takeaway.com on all competition aspects of its acquisitions of Delivery Hero in Germany, Just Eat in the UK and Grubhub in the US A large IT provider in relation to the ACM's Cloudservices market study Various digital and tech clients in relation to digital regulation, including the Digital Markets Act, the Data Act, parity clauses, online advertising and abuse of dominance Two clients on consumer law matters examined by the Dutch ACM, linking to issues of transparency, algorithms and data provision HEMA on its sale to Parcom and Mississippi Ventures Coca Cola in relation to a sustainability-related packaging reduction initiative with competitors Various other companies in relation to sustainability collaborations and preventing greenwashing / consumer law concerns

English, Dutch, French

Non-governmental advisor to the Dutch competition authority ("ACM") supporting its membership of the International Competition Network

Lecturer in competition law (Grotius Academie)

Member of the Dutch leadership team of W@, which promotes and mentors female competition law specialists

University of Durham

Nottingham Law School

Kings College London