Dr. Ole Schley

About Dr. Ole Schley

Ole assists clients across the full range of EU and German competition law matters. His practice covers antitrust and regulatory aspects of global M&A transactions, antitrust litigation, cartels and abuse of dominance proceedings, as well as compliance with laws of the EU Digital Strategy.

He is a core member of the firm's TMT group and has significant sector experience in advising tech and digital platform clients, particularly with a view to the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), as well as the German GWB10 “gatekeeper” amendments. He is also an experienced trial lawyer who has litigated antitrust cases against the European Commission, the Federal Cartel Office and private plaintiffs before the EU’s highest court, the European Court of Justice, regional courts and higher regonal courts in Germany as well as arbitration tribunals.

Ole frequently advises clients on complex cross-border transactions, where he coordinates filings under the applicable merger and foreign direct investment regimes, as well as under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). In addition, he advises clients on sustainability cooperations and frequently publishes on a range of legal topics.

Ole has experience working in our offices in New York, Berlin and London. 

Recent work

Ole's experience includes advising:

• Meta on the newly enacted EU Digital Markets Act, including Meta’s “gatekeeper” designation, the specification of its “core platform services” and its ongoing global compliance preparation.
• Meta on its ongoing appeal before the European General Court against the European Commission’s designation of certain of its “core platform services” under the DMA – one of three first-ever challenges to be brought before the Court. 
• An industrial client on its appeal before the European Court of Justice against the European Commission’s decision to block a merger.
• A leading automotive company on its defence in the landmark “Car Emissions” antitrust proceeding by the European Commission, which for the first time applied a “sustainability” theory of harm.
• A private equity fund on its acquisition of genome editing company focused on developing curative therapeutics using CRISPR/Cas9 technology.
• A private equity fund on its acquisition of a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of next-generation immunotherapies.
• Catalent on its acquisition of RheinCell Therapeutics, a developer of human induced pluripotent stem cells.
• Altor and SMS on the acquisition of a 50 percent stake in KAEFER Isoliertechnik, a provider of technical industrial services.
• Etex on its acquisition of acquisition of URSA, a European provider of insulation solutions.
• Beiersdorf on its acquisition of Chantecaille, a producer of skincare and cosmetics.
• An industrial client on its defence in an antitrust proceeding by the Federal Cartel Office.
• A tech company on its defence in an abuse of dominance investigation by the Federal Cartel Office.
• A leading automotive company on its global data strategy.