Profile: Helmut Bergmann

Competition

Biography: Competition

Dr Helmut Bergmann has been a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer since 1996 and is based in the Berlin office. He is co-head of the firm's global antitrust, competition and trade (ACT) practice group. From 1998 to July 2006, he was managing partner of the firm's Berlin office. Helmut specialises in German and European competition and antitrust law with a special focus on mergers and acquisitions and cartels.

He has particular experience in the automotive, chemicals, consumer products, energy, financial services, healthcare, media, software and telecommunications sectors. Recent clients include ABB, Alcon, Apax Partners, Carlyle, Chemtura, CR Bard, Dow Chemical, ED&F MAN, Eni, Fresenius, Goldman Sachs, Hoffmann-La Roche, Kabel Deutschland, Lanxess, Lehman Brothers, London Stock Exchange, Mars, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Nestlé, Nordzucker, Pirelli, Providence, Puma, Roche Diagnostics, Smiths Group, Sumitomo Electric, Warburg Pincus and Xstrata.

Helmut was born in Nuremberg in 1961. He received his legal education at the universities of Würzburg, Geneva and Tübingen. In 1987, he joined the Cologne office of Deringer as a trainee and in 1991 as Rechtsanwalt. In 1996 he relocated to the firm's Berlin office. His international experience includes working as a stagiaire with the European Commission's Directorate General for Competition (1990) and spending one year with a US law firm in New York (1992 to 1993). He also acts as non-governmental adviser to the International Competition Network's (ICN) cartel working group.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is a leading international law firm with a network of 26 offices across Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East providing a full range of legal services worldwide. Members of the firm's 250-strong ACT group are based in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Bratislava, Brussels, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Tokyo, Vienna and Washington, DC.