Bird & Bird has hired a new competition partner in Brussels as it looks to expand its EU offering.
Efthymios Bourtzalas joins the UK outfit from the European Commission where he had worked in the Directorate-General for Competition. He had previously been an associate at Ashurst.
Bourtzalas advises on merger control, restrictive agreements, cartels and abuse of dominance cases, state aid, public procurement, external trade, internal market, EU regulatory and institutional matters as well as litigation.
The firm currently has two partners, one Of counsel and four associates advising on EU competition matters in the Brussels office.
Bird & Bird’s co head of the Belgium office Anne Federle said: "We are very excited to welcome Efthymios to our team. His extensive experience, in particular in the energy and communications sectors, makes him a great fit and his track record of working with clients in South Eastern Europe will support the development of our firm's activities in this region."