David-Julien dos Santos Goncalves

Dr. David-Julien dos Santos Goncalves

Antitrust & Foreign Investment Partner, Düsseldorf

"I am a competition lawyer focusing on merger control, abuse of dominance and cartel cases, foreign investment and litigation cases under German and European competition laws. I aim to provide pragmatic advice to our clients on their most complex national, EU and global merger control and antitrust matters"

Overview

Professional experience

Education and qualifications

Published works

Overview

David specialises in European and German competition law, including merger control, foreign investment, foreign subsidies regulation (FSR), cartel and abuse of dominance proceedings before the European Commission, the Bundeskartellamt (the Federal Cartel Office) and the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action as well as before national and European courts. His focus lies on the coordination of multijurisdictional merger control and foreign investment proceedings as well as on cartel proceedings before antitrust authorities and before civil and arbitration courts. David also advises on complex compliance programs (e.g. syndicated loans) as well as antitrust questions related to vertical agreements and the compliant restructuring of distribution systems with a particular focus on online sales channels. 

David has profound experience in the financial, automotive, energy, semiconductor, postal and logistic services, cosmetics and private equity sectors.

 

Work highlights

David has advised, inter alia, on the following high-profile competition cases:

  • Daimler: advising on antitrust and foreign investment in relation to the separation of Mercedes Benz and Daimler Trucks.
  • Westenergie: representing in the phase II merger control proceeding at the Federal Cartel Office and in subsequent court proceeding at the Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf. 
  • E.ON: advising in connection with the acquisition of RWE's 76.8 percent stake in innogy SE via a far-reaching exchange of assets and participations, including court proceeding before the European Court. 
  • Deutsche Börse: representing in national and European merger control proceedings, including the “Merger of Equals” with London Stock Exchange. 
  • Deere & Company: representing in merger control proceedings in 20 jurisdictions in relation to the acquisition of Wirtgen Group.
  • Elmos Semiconductor: representing in phase I and II foreign investment proceedings before the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
  • Mediahuis NV: antitrust and investment control law advice on the acquisition of Aachener Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (including majority shareholding in Medienhaus Aaachen GmbH) by the media group Mediahuis.
  • Körber: merger control and investment control global advice on the acquisition of the mail and parcel business of Siemens Logistics. 
  • Ernst & Young: antitrust and foreign investment advice on separation of consulting business.
     

Citations & Rankings

  • MergerLinks Rising Stars: Top Antitrust Lawyers in EMEA

Professional experience

David joined Linklaters as a lawyer in 2016 and has been promoted to Managing Associate in 2019. He was elected Partner in 2024.

He was working at the London Office in 2019 and to the New York Office in 2016. 

David is a member of Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht (Study Association Competition/Antitrust Law) and Forum Investitionsprüfung e.V.

 

Education and qualifications

David studied law at the University of Münster. David wrote his PhD thesis at the University of Münster.

David studied economics (bachelor and master degree) at the University of Münster, St. Gallen and Aberdeen.

David speaks German, English and Portuguese. 

 

Published works

David regularly publishes on competition law. His recent publications include:

  • Rechtsentwicklungen in der Investitionskontrolle 2022 (RA Christoph Barth / RA Dr. David-Julien dos Santos Goncalves / RAin Ann-Christin Käser) (19.12.2022, Heft 51-52, Beilage 03, Seite 42-44, DB1421479)
  • Investitionskontrolle in Deutschland: Aktuelle rechtliche Entwicklungen in 2021 (Christoph Barth, David-Julien dos Santos Goncalves, 2021)
  • Foreign Investment: An overview of EU and national case law (Christian Ahlborn, Christoph Barth, David-Julien dos Santos Goncalves)
  • On topic health crisis: Foreign investment lockdown (Christian Ahlborn, Christoph Barth, David dos Santos Goncalves (2020)
  • Rechtsentwicklungen in der Investitionskontrolle 2020 in Deutschland (Christoph Barth, David dos Santos Goncalves, 2020)
  • Novellierung der Investitionskontrolle erhöht die Komplexität, Börsen-Zeitung (Christoph Barth, David dos Santos, 2021) Berlin verschärft Investitionskontrolle | Börsen-Zeitung (boersen-zeitung.de)
  • dos Santos Goncalves, David-Julien / Karsten, Arne, Die Zulässigkeit der engen Bestpreisklausel, in: Wuw 2019, S. 454-457
  • Colin-Dubuisson, Charlotte / Ostrovsky, Sima / dos Santos Goncalves, David-Julien, EU vertical enforcement: NCAs and vertical restrictions trending in the last decade, in: Concurrences N° 3-2021 S. 27-32
  • Klauß, Ingo / dos Santos Goncalves, David-Julien, Anmerkung zu EuGH: Verbot des Vertriebs von Luxuswaren über Drittplattformen im Internet in: NJW, 2018, S. 281ff.

External events

  • Lexology 2022: VBER’22 Goes Live – so what do you need to know