Jens Peter Schmidt
Head of Brussels Office, Rechtsanwalt (Lawyer), Partner
Global rankings recognize Jens Peter Schmidt as a leading antitrust and competition expert. During his 25 years as a legal practitioner, he has focused on M&A merger control, foreign direct investment control (FDI), foreign subsidy control and antitrust/regulatory issues associated with the digital economy (e.g. DMA). Jens Peter advises on the antitrust-compliant structuring of cooperations and distribution systems, and state aid. He heads NOERR’s Brussels office. Prior to joining NOERR, he was the Brussels office managing partner and co-head of the European antitrust practice of an international US law firm.
Projects
- Representing global automotive Tier 1 supplier Lear Corporation in complex merger control proceedings before the European Commission and other antitrust authorities
- Representation of KPS Capital Partners/Speira in the European Commission's investigation and conditional clearance of the acquisition of Real Alloy Europe
- Representing third party in the European Commission’s second-phase merger control proceedings in relation to the USD 2,1bn acquisition of Fitbit by Google
- Representing foreign investors in relation to foreign direct investment control proceedings before the German Ministry
- Representing global chemical company in the European Commission’s merger control investigation and conditional clearance of the merger with Quaker*
- Representing third party intervenient in the abuse of dominance investigations of the European Commission against Qualcomm*
- Representing third party intervenient before the General Court and the European Commission in relation to the EUR 8,6bn acquisition of E-Plus by Telefónica*
- Advising utility on the state aid aspects of the EUR 24,1bn fund for the management of radioactive waste in Germany*
- Representing third party in the second-phase merger control proceedings of the German Bundeskartellamt in relation to the VTG/Nacco takeover*
- Representing seller in relation to the acquisition of the target by Lürssen in merger control proceedings before the German Bundeskartellamt*
- Representing buyer of MWM (USD 800mn) in the second-phase merger control investigation of the European Commission*
- Representing EUROFER (European Steel Producer Association) as main complainant in BHP Billiton/Rio Tinto (USD 116bn) iron ore proceedings of the European Commission and parallel merger proceedings of German Bundeskartellamt* *in previous law firm
Distinctions
- Chambers Global 2024 Competition / EU: "is a very experienced individual who has outstanding knowledge and is an excellent adviser for successful negotiations."
- Index Ranking/Who is Who Legal 2025 Global Competition Thought Leader
- JUVE 2024/2025: Frequently recommended expert in the area of Antitrust; JUVE 2023/2024: "excellent, pragmatic"; JUVE 2020/2021: “super good”; JUVE 2019/2020: "well connected and respected Schmidt often advises on complex European projects”.
- Table.Media 2024: TOP 10 EU Key Player / Consulting
- Chambers Global 2023 Competition/EU: “handled complex and challenging matters with a great degree of pragmatism and sensitivity. [...] also very strong in his commercial awareness.”
- Business Today: Top 10 EU Competition Lawyer 2023
- Chambers Global 2022 Competition/EU: he “is appreciated for his involvement in complex cross-border merger control proceedings, including those with FDI clearances.”
- Chambers Global 2021 Competition/EU: “He is top notch. We had a complicated case and he was amazing at giving us an opinion in writing offering good, clear advice.”
- Chambers Global 2020: “[he] is super-responsive, knows the EU process and really understands our products”.
- Who’s Who Legal 2020-2024: Global Leader Competition
- Legal500 2020: “What stood out was Jens’ willingness and ability to explain clearly how the law worked and explain in a layman’s terms what some of the written law actually meant (not always easy to understand) and then apply this and explain to us how it applied to our situation. There is no way we could have done this without a total expert helping us.”
- Best Lawyers 2023/2022/2021 Belgium Competition/Antitrust
- Chambers Global 2012-2022
- Chambers Europe 2011-2022
- Legal500 2012-2020
- JUVE 2011/2012-2020/2022
- IFLR 2013-2021
Insights
Career
Legal studies at Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms-University in Bonn, Germany
Doctorate in Law at Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms-University in Bonn, Germany
Partner in the Antitrust & Competition practice of an international US law firm, Co-Head European Antitrust & Competition practice and Managing Partner Brussels office
Admission to the Brussels Bar and to the Düsseldorf Bar
Joined Noerr in 2020
Memberships
- Board Member, German-American Lawyers' Association
- Member American Bar Association ABA
- Member, German Association for the Study of Antitrust Law
- Member, European Competition Lawyers Forum
- Co-head of Practice Group Antitrust/Regulated Industries/Media of German-American Lawyers' Association
Publications
- "Eliminating Grail – Which authority in the EU will assess potentially critical transactions?", NZKart Oktober 2024
- "New Digital Markets Act: A Practitioner's Guide" Hart, Beck, Nomos, 2023
- "Platform regulation 2.0 – Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act - Challenges for Compliance Organizations", CCZ, Juli 2023
- "Cooperation of competition authorities and courts in administrative and fine proceedings in the EU",Kamann/Ohlhoff/Völcker, Kartellverfahren und Kartellprozess, Handbuch, Verlag C.H. Beck, 2024
- "The Digital Markets Act (DMA)", Nomos, Baden Baden, 2023
- "EU Commission's merger control investigations without notification requirement - new challenges for M&A transactions", Betriebs-Berater, July 2021
- "EU General Court: Prohibition of a merger giving rise to non-coordinated effects in the telecommunications sector " (Hutchison), Multimedia & Recht (MMR), October 2020
- "Akzo Nobel and Others v Commission: when can parent companies be liable for the acts of subsidiaries even if action against the subsidiary is time-barred?", Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, Oxford University Press, September 2017
- "Liability of a company for Antitrust infringements of its agent", ZWH Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsstrafrecht und Haftung, March 2016
- "The competence of the European Commission to assess minority shareholdings", Austrian Competition Journal, February 2014
- "Germany: merger control analysis of minority shareholdings – A model for the EU?", Concurrences, 2-2013, May 2013
- "Antitrust developments in the food sector in the EU", European Competition Law Review (E.C.L.R.), Thomson Reuters, April 2013
- "First come, first served": the different assessment of parallel mergers in the EU and the US", Europäisches Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (EuZW), March 2013
- "Merger control referrals pursuant to Article 22 EUMR - Looking for the best placed authority", Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb (WuW), November 2011
- "Antitrust compliance requirements with respect to information exchanges between competitors", Betriebs-Berater, November 2009
- "A comparative analysis of Article 82 EC Treaty and Section 2 of the Sherman Act", Zeitschrift für Wettbewerbsrecht (ZWeR), April 2005
- "State Aid issues in the air transportation sector", Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht, März 2004
- "The bundling of markets", Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb (WuW), September 2003
- "Fees for the transmission of program signals over broadband cable", Kommunikation & Recht (K&R), 1 August 2002
- "The right of third parties to appeal Federal Cartel Office merger clearances is still evolving", Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb (WuW), November 2001
- "The right of minority shareholders to receive competitively sensitive information within Corporate and Antitrust laws", Betriebs-Berater, September 2002
- "State Liability for Delayed Public Acts", Heymanns, Cologne, 2001