Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has appointed Brussels-based Kyriakos Fountoukakos to lead its competition and trade team.

He will succeed London's Stephen Wisking, who returns to his competition law practice, and will combine his regional role as lead partner for EMEA antitrust and trade work with the new global mandate. He will work closely with his Australian equivalent as regional head of practice, Linda Evans, and will continue as Brussels office managing partner.

Fountoukakos has more than two decades of experience in all EU and UK competition law aspects. He advises international clients in sectors including TMT, life sciences, energy and mining, consumer products, financial services and manufacturing on a range of areas, including merger control (M&A and joint ventures), cartels, antitrust investigations and advice, distribution agreements, dominance, and competition litigation before the EU courts. He is also particularly active in advising clients in Japan, working closely with HSF's specialist competition teams in Asia.

Dual-qualified in Greece and England and Wales, Fountoukakos started his career at HSF before working for the European Commission in DG Competition's Merger Task Force and as a legal assistant in the cabinet of Bo Vesterdorf during his term as president of the first-instance General Court of the Court of Justice of the EU. 

He subsequently re-joined the firm in 2006 as a partner. Fountoukakos is also active as a visiting lecturer at University College London and as senior-vice chair of the IBA's Antitrust Committee. 

Fountoukakos said he would look to build on Wisking's leadership in both contentious and non-contentious competition and trade law work, as well as developing the firm's follow-on practice in competition class actions, a key growth area for the firm globally.

Ian Cox, practices executive partner at HSF, said Fountoukakos had shown a strong track record of leadership credentials with his various management roles in the firm.

“Coupled with his technical expertise as a highly regarded competition lawyer, he is well placed to build on our successes and drive the team forward in providing the best for our clients,” he added, while thanking Wisking for his work over the last six years.

The firm recently announced that insurance litigator Paul Lewis would serve as the firm’s new global co-head of disputes in London, as it refreshes its leadership teams. 

However, it lost white-collar crime partner Dan Hudson this week to Seladore Legal, which is led by former HSF and Signature Litigation veteran Simon Bushell.