CMS Competition Associates

Our CMS Competition Associates’ (CMS-CA) group is a key initiative to provide our junior and senior associates with a platform for the younger generation, drive collaboration and foster innovation at all levels within the CMS Antitrust, Competition & Trade Group, both internally and externally.

All associates in the CMS Competition & EU Group are invited to submit applications for membership on a biennial basis.

We currently have 24 members from 23 offices, working on various initiatives and three key projects:

DiGi POD
e-Learning
infoXchange

The focus of each of these projects is on the seamless sharing of key knowledge and experience throughout the CMS Competition & EU Group and to clients internationally, meaning that all can benefit from the most up-to-date cross-border specialist knowledge and advice.

Members of the CMS-CA group can volunteer to assist with any of these projects and progress the initiatives independently, with the full support of the CMS Competition & EU Group.

Members are also constantly encouraged to come up with and develop new internal and external initiatives, with a particular focus on embracing the newest and most innovative technologies.

In addition, the CMS-CA group is actively involved in most activities of the CMS Competition & EU Group, including the annual CMS Competition Conference and the monthly EU Competition Law Briefings. Furthermore, members of the CMS-CA group both conduct internal training sessions to keep the CMS Competition & EU Group abreast of the most recent developments and develop online training for specific clients.

Meet our members

The CMS-CA group is led by the CMS-CA SteerCo which helps manage the projects run by the CMS-CA, arranges regular meetings of CMS-CA group members and liaises with the partners of the CMS Competition & EU Group to present and promote the key projects.

For 2022 / 23, the CMS-CA group SteerCo consists of the following members from a range of offices across CMS:

Annemieke Hazelhoff

Head of CMS-CA Steer Co
Netherlands

Peter Giese

Deputy Head of CMS-CA Steer Co
Germany

Rhiannon Pugh
UK

Dóra Altziebler
Hungary

Meet our CMS Competition Associates

Bora Kastrati

Tirana

T +355 4 4302123

Joëlle Froidmont

Senior Associate

Brussels

T +32 2 674 85 75

Benedetta Vio

Associate

Milan

T +39 02 89283800

Tobias Duhe

Counsel

Rechtsanwalt

Hamburg

T +49 40 37630 310

Jacinta Ngumo

Principal Associate

Nairobi

T +254 20 429 7000

Alida Masvie Masvie Hovland

Senior Associate

Oslo

T +47 902 91 952

Anna Wilkosz

Associate

Warsaw

T +48 22 520 56 34

Cristina Ciomos

Associate

Bucharest

T +40 21 407 3895

Teodora Vujošević

Lawyer

Belgrade

T +381 11 3208923

Eduardo Crespo Cimas

Madrid

Hadi Mirzai

Senior Associate

Zurich

T +41 44 285 11 11

Iremgül Mansur

Associate

Istanbul

T +90 212 401 4268

Annemieke Hazelhoff

Counsel

Advocaat

Amsterdam

T +31 20 3016 437

Dóra Altziebler

Associate

Budapest

T + 36 1 505 4923

Rhiannon Pugh

Senior Associate

London

T +44 20 7367 2672

Robert Kordić

Associate

Ljubljana

T +386 1 620 52 10

Peter Giese

Principal Counsel

Rechtsanwalt

Stuttgart

T +49 711 9764 703

Find out more about our projects

DiGi POD

The DiGi POD project enables CMS-CA group members to script and produce their own podcasts in which they discuss new issues in competition law, giving their opinion on the subject and sharing their experience and knowledge.

As well as focussing on key issues that arise at the EU level, the podcasts also regularly focus on the different approaches to a specific topic across a range of countries, with members of the CMS-CA group contributing content for their jurisdiction.

The aim of the project is to bring competition law closer to the target audience, be that clients, in-house and external lawyers, or students, in an entertaining and novel way.

To listen and hear more about the most recent developments and trending topics click here.

e-Learning

The e-Learning project gives members of the CMS-CA group the opportunity to develop training courses on key aspects of competition law, whether that be an overview of the most recent developments or an in-depth look at more “classic” topics, that come up time and again.

Within the e-Learning project, the CMS-CA group is building a training tool, which would allow for easy access to, and amendment of, the training courses to tailor them to the specific needs of the clients in question.

To find out more about the online training tool and how the CMS-CA group can assist in providing an online training session tailored to your specific needs, please feel free to reach out to Annemieke Hazelhoff.

infoXchange

A sub-group of the CMS-CA group is the Communications Committee. The aim of the Communications Committee is to engage in various forms of communication across the different CMS offices around the world and externally, focussing in particular on providing updates on recent key developments. The Committee is involved in various projects. Its first project called infoXchange shares know-how internally amongst CMS offices focusing on new legal developments in all jurisdictions.

The Communications Committee is also responsible for external communication on behalf of the CMS-CA group and, in some cases, the CMS Competition & EU Group by preparing summaries of events, online coverage and updates.

CMS-CA meetings

The CMS-CA group as a whole holds regular online meetings to discuss the various projects and individual members are in constant contact with others who are working on the same projects.

In addition, the collaboration of CMS-CA group members is enhanced by the state-of-the-art online legal project management platform, Lupl, which CMS has co-developed.

As well as regular online meetings and opportunities to catch up at other events organised by the CMS Competition & EU Group, the CMS-CA group also meets in-person at least once a year in order to discuss the progress of the current projects and to brainstorm ideas for new and exciting projects.

These meetings are an excellent opportunity for members to network and form strong bonds, and even friendships, across the CMS Competition & EU Group. Such connections are invaluable when it comes to advising on the large scale, cross-border transactions upon which the Group regularly advises.

CMS-CA meeting on 8 July 2022 in Budapest

For the first time since the pandemic, the current members of the CMS-CA group met on 8 July 2022 in Budapest.

There was a jam-packed schedule with the focus on members participating in workshops to discuss new project ideas. They were assisted by experts from CMS’ international business development team. There were also break-out sessions for each of the existing projects, chaired by members of the CMS-CA group SteerCo, to take stock of recent progress and plan next steps.

After an afternoon filled with enthusiastic discussions, members had the chance to continue their brainstorming into the evening, while savouring some delicious Hungarian cuisine!

All members are very excited about the next meeting in 2023. We will of course keep you updated.