Mr Pietro Merlino > Legance - Avvocati Associati > Rome, Italy > Lawyer Profile

Legance - Avvocati Associati
VIA DI SAN NICOLA DA TOLENTINO 67
00187 ROMA
Italy

Work Department

EU, Antitrust and Regulation

Position

Partner

Career

Pietro Merlino is a partner in the EU, Antitrust and Regulation department at Legance and focuses on EU and Italian competition law. He assists clients in connection with the application of EU and Italian competition rules across a wide range of sectors (from life sciences to energy, tech and digital economy, banking, insurance, transportations, consumer goods). Pietro advises and represents international and Italian clients in all areas of competition law, including abuse of dominance, cartel and restrictive practices investigations, merger control, civil antitrust litigation (follow-on or stand-alone damages actions), licensing and distribution, as well as on consumer protection and on general EU law issues.

Pietro appears frequently before the EU courts in Luxembourg and the Italian civil and administrative courts, as well as before the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission and the Italian Competition Authority.

Over the years, Pietro has developed a strong, specific expertise in the application of competition rules in the pharmaceutical, energy and transport sectors as well as on the interplay between antitrust law and intellectual property rights (IPRs).

Pietro Merlino has authored numerous publications on competition law. He lectures at several Italian universities and he is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars in Italy and abroad. Pietro is currently a member of the steering committee of the association Concorrenze (which brings together lawyers and economists with expertise in competition law and economics) and a member of Associazione Antitrust Italiana (Italian Antitrust Association).

Languages

Italian, English, French and Portuguese

Memberships

Member of the steering committee of the association Concorrenze.

Member of the Italian Antitrust Association.

Member of the Naples Bar (Italy).

Admitted to practice before the Supreme Court and Highest Jurisdiction (Italy).

Education

In 1996 Pietro Merlino graduated in Law, summa cum laude, at Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Naples (Italy).

In 1998 Pietro Merlino obtained a LL.M. in Advanced European Legal Studies at College of Europe, Bruges (Belgium).

In 1999 Pietro Merlino obtained a LL.M. at University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan (U.S.A.).

In 2004 Pietro Merlino also obtained a Ph.D. in EU competition law, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Naples (Italy).

Lawyer Rankings

Italy > EU and competition law

(Next Generation Partners)

Pietro MerlinoLegance – Avvocati Associati

Legance – Avvocati Associati’s team assists in mergers before the EU Commission and the Italian Competition Authority, before which it also routinely handles investigations in relation to cartels and abuse of dominance. Unfair commercial practices are also at the forefront of the practice, which is sought out by clients from the financial, energy, retail, telecoms, transport and pharmaceutical sectors. Head of the team Vito Auricchio’s broad practice spans antitrust and regulatory matters, mergers, abuses and cartels; areas in which Guendalina Catti De Gasperi is also particularly active. The team has been strengthened by the arrival, in November 2023, of antitrust and competition law expert Pietro Merlino, now partner in the firm’s EU, antitrust and regulation department.

Italy > Industry focus: Healthcare and life sciences

Legance – Avvocati Associati assists foreign and domestic clients from across the sector, including hospitals, pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The firm maintains a strong expertise in the industry’s regulatory framework as well as matters involving corporate, IP, compliance, administrative and competition law. Giovanni Nardulli  is the firm’s head of practice and focuses his work on M&A matters, especially involving cross-border transactions. Pietro Merlino joined the firm in November 2023 from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.