Kaan Gürer

Kaan is a counsel in Linklaters’ Düsseldorf Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group. He has diverse expertise in all fields of antitrust law with a focus on investigations, compliance advise and merger control both at EU level and in Germany, including on vertical and abuse of dominance questions. Based on his vast experience in several complex matters, he is very familiar with the structures of both the Federal Cartel Office in Germany where he spent time during his legal training and the European Commission.

Kaan has profound experience in the automotive industry, digital economy, technology, energy, private equity, industrials, real estate and healthcare. He is also a member of the firm’s ESG working group and publishes regularly in this area.

Kaan is listed by Who's Who Legal and Global Competition Review in the category "Competition Future Leaders 2022 (non-partners)" and by Handelsblatt in the category "Best Lawyers 2021" for antitrust law. 

Work highlights

• Volkswagen: advising on antitrust law regarding a research and development cooperation with Bosch in the field of autonomous driving;
• Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG: advising in cartel proceedings before the European Commission concerning alleged anticompetitive conduct in relation to emission technologies;
• Volkswagen AG: advising in a cartel case before the German Federal Cartel Office in relation to steel purchasing;
• Silgan Holdings Inc. advising in cartel proceedings before the German Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission concerning alleged anticompetitive conduct in the metal packaging sector, in proceedings before the European Courts and in relation to compliance trainings;
• KME AG/Intek Group: advising in the acquisition of MKM Mansfelder Kupfer und Messing before the European Commission;
• An online retailer: advising on various questions in relation to European and German antitrust law reforms in the digital area.

Kaan is actively involved in the practice group’s recruiting process, regularly takes part in Community Investment projects (such as job application trainings for students) and plays an active role in the firm’s diversity initiatives.Furthermore, Kaan is a member of the German Study Association for Antitrust Lawyers (Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht), of the German compliance association DICO’s working group for antitrust law, the German-Turkish Lawyers Association and the German Bar Association. 

Kaan studied law in Hamburg and Chicago at Bucerius Law School Hamburg and Northwestern University School of Law. He further holds a joint LL.M. from the University of Cologne and Bilgi University Istanbul. During his legal training, Kaan spent time at the Federal Cartel Office and gained practical experience in a leading competition law firm in Turkey.

Kaan regularly publishes on antitrust law and speaks at conferences.

• “Plädoyer für eine weite Compliance-Defence in § 81d GWB-E im Rahmen der 10. GWB-Novelle”, WuW 12/2020
• “Digitalisierung und Kartellrechtscompliance – Zwischen Wandel und Herausforderung”, Compliance Business 4/2020
• “Kartellbußgeldverfahren nach der 10. GWB-Novelle – Der Referentenentwurf schränkt Verfahrens- und Verteidigerrechte maßgeblich ein”, Compliance Business 1/2020
• “Herausforderungen für 2018 – Kartellrechtliche Compliance: Neue Themen stehen auf der Agenda”, Compliance Business 1/2018
• „Bewegung beim Thema Compliance-Defence – BGH äußert sich zur Bedeutung von Compliance bei der Bußgeldbemessung”, Compliance Business 3/2017
• “Ist Imagepflege im Internetzeitalter nicht mehr möglich? OLG Düsseldorf bestätigt, dass das Verbot der Nutzung von Preissuchmaschinen gegen Kartellrecht verstößt”, Compliance Business 2/2017
• “Germany: anti-competitive agreements – athletics shoes II”, ECLR 2017, 38(8)
• “Einführung eines bundesweiten Wettbewerbsregisters. Kartellanten könnte schon bald der Eintrag in einer ‘schwarzen Liste’ drohen”, Compliance Business 1/2017
• “Aktuelle Kartellrechtsrisiken in M&A-Transaktionen”, M&A Review 3/2017
• “Kartellrechtsrisiken in M&A-Transaktionen – neuere Entwicklungen”, Betriebs-Berater 5/2017
• “Haften Unternehmen für Kartellverstöße von unabhängigen Dritten?”, Compliance Berater 1/2017
• “Eltern haften für ihre Kinder. Im Blickpunkt: Erhöhte Haftungsrisiken für Konzerne nach der 9. GWB-Novelle”, Compliance Business 4/2016
• “DICO Leitlinien: Kartellrechtliche Compliance und ‘Dos & Don’ts’”, May 2016
• “Kartellverstöße des Handelsvertreters – Wann haftet das Unternehmen?”, Compliance Be-rater 11/2015
• “Unternehmen haften für Kartellverstöße von Handelsvertretern. Anmerkung zum Urteil des EuG v. 15.7.2015 Rs. T-418/10 – voestalpine und voestalpine Wire Rod Austria”, Betriebs-Berater, BB-Standpunkte, September 2015
• “Einführung eines neuen Sammelklagen-Systems im Vereinigten Königreich: Droht nun eine Klagewelle nach U.S.-amerikanischem Vorbild?”, Compliance Business 3/2015
• “Droht Kartellbeteiligten eine Schadensersatzwelle? Im Blickpunkt: die neue Schadensersatzrichtlinie der EU-Kommission”, Compliance Business 2/2015
• “Hält doppelt immer besser? Spannungsfeld paralleler Ermittlungen von Bundeskartellamt und Staatsanwaltschaft”, Compliance Business 1/2015
• “Germany: anti-competitive agreements – selective distribution systems”, ECLR 2016, 37(8)
• “Germany: anti-competitive agreements – athletics shoes”, ECLR 2015, 36(12)
• “Germany: procedure – private actions”, ECLR 2015, 36(8)

• “Germany: procedure – infringement decision – publicity”, ECLR 2015, 36(6)
•  azur Karrieremagazin 1/2015, “Kartell-Razzien: Wenn der Amtmann zweimal klingelt” (Inter-view)

Conferences

Kaan’s conferences include:

• Deutscher Kartellrechtstag 2019 in Cologne, presentation on “Current developments in cartel investigations”
• Regional meeting of Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht e.V. in Dusseldorf, 2017, presentation on “The new company group liability in German antitrust law”
• Deutscher Kartellrechtstag 2017 in Dusseldorf, presentation on “Liability for antitrust law vio-lations – where does the company end?”
• 8th Anti-Corruption & Compliance Summit 2017 in Berlin, presentation on “Changes to com-petition law compliance after the new reforms”
• “German and Turkish Commercial Law”-conference in Cologne, 2016, presentation on “Prac-tice of cross-border business law relationships”