Prof. Dr. Daniela Seeliger

Daniela is widely regarded as one of the leading competition lawyers in Germany. She has 20+ years of experience advising on all aspects of European and German competition law, including merger control, cartel proceedings, antitrust compliance and abuse of dominance cases. She has extensive experience in foreign investment control and EU foreign subsidies and represented clients in merger control proceedings before the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) as well as in foreign investment control proceedings before the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

Daniela co-heads the firm’s global chemicals sector group and has particular expertise in the automotive, energy, healthcare, IT, and telecommunications sectors.

She teaches competition law at the University of Halle and is also a co-editor of the Frankfurt Commentary on Competition Law and the journal WIRTSCHAFT und WETTBEWERB. For more than ten years, she has been a Non-Governmental Advisor in the International Competition Network (ICN) and, since December 2018, she has been a board member of the Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht. Additionally, she was a member of the Commission on Competition Law 4.0 of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

Daniela is rated as one of the leading individuals in the area Competition/European Law (Chambers Germany 2025, Band 1). One client enthuses: "Daniela Seeliger is one of the best lawyers in Germany for these matters." (Chambers Germany 2025, Competition/European Law).

Work highlights

Daniela has advised on many high-profile cases both in the antitrust and merger control spheres. Cases and clients which can be disclosed include representing/advising:

• 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.

• Volkswagen: advising on the joint venture with and planned investments in Rivian with a transaction volume of $ 5.8 billion.
• Triton: advising on (i) the sale of EQOS, a leading specialist in the installation and maintenance of critical infrastructure in Europe, to Eiffage Énergie Systèmes ("Eiffage"), and (ii) the acquisition of Caverion, including advising on outbidding a competing public takeover offer that has already been approved under EU law.
• Covestro advising, inter alia, (i) on the public takeover offer by Abu Dhabi owned ADNOC and (ii) the €1.6bn acquisition of the Resins & Functional Materials business from Royal DSM.
• Hamburger Hafen und Logistik: advising on the joint takeover offer by Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC) and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
• Visa: advising and representing clients in court in the defence against antitrust removal, cease-and-desist, and compensation claims by several hundred banks in relation to the allowance of direct customer fees in a four-party payment card scheme (stand-alone actions).
• Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG: advising in cartel proceedings before the European Commission concerning alleged anticompetitive conduct in relation to emission technologies.

• AUDI: advising on the acquisition of a competitor in the sports car sector and the entry into Formula 1.

Daniela is ranked among the best 37 competition lawyers in Germany and is a national government expert appointed by Bundeskartellamt, advising on proposed legislation and the impact on business of laws and regulations.

She is board member of the Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht (Antitrust Lawyers Association) since 2008 and was member of the Commission “Competition Law 4.0” of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

In 2015, Daniela was awarded the title of professor by the Martin Luther University in Halle in recognition of her long-standing teaching engagement in European and German competition law.

She assisted with compiling the United Nations’ Guide for General Counsel on Corporate Sustainability, an initiative led by Tom Shropshire.

Daniela studied law at the Universities in Bonn and Lausanne and holds a master’s in law from King’s College, London and a doctorate from the University of Cologne.

She speaks German, English, French and Swedish.

Daniela publishes widely on competition law and regularly presents on different topics including cartel investigations, compliance and risk management and developments and trends. Her publications include:

• Weiterer Optimierungsbedarf beim Thema ESG und Kartellrecht (Seeliger, Daniela; Gürer, Kaan; de Crozals, Dorothee), in: DB 2024, Beilage 2, S. 39, 2024.

• Nachhaltigkeitskooperationen (Seeliger, Daniela; Noßke, Theresa), Einzelartikel im Deutscher Anwalt-Spiegel, 10/2024, S. 15, 2024.
• Nachhaltigkeitskooperationen bergen Risiken (Seeliger, Daniela; Noßke, Theresa), Online-Artikel in BOEZ, veröffentlicht am 09.02.2024.
• Die horizontalen Vereinbarungen: § 17 Spezialisierungsvereinbarungen (Verordnung (EU) 2023/1067) (Seeliger, Daniela), in: Liebscher/Flohr/Petsche/Metzlaff (Hrsg.), Handbuch der EU-Gruppenfreistellungs-verordnungen, Beck, München, 3. Auflage 2023, S. 449 ff.
• Der neue Digital Markets Act - die digitale Revolution des Kartellrechts? (Seeliger, Daniela; Rump, Tobias), Artikel in RIW 2023, S. 321.
• ESG im Kartellrecht – aktuelle Entwicklungen (Seeliger, Daniela; Gürer, Kaan), in: DB 2023, Beilage 2, S. 48, 2023.
• Kapitel 15: Wettbewerbsrecht (Seeliger, Daniela; Rump, Tobias), in: Omlor/Link (Hrsg.), Kryptowährungen und Token, Recht und Wirtschaft, Frankfurt am Main, 2. Auflage 2023, S. 785 ff.
• Kommentierung zu Art. 8-13, 15 Digital Markets Act (Seeliger, Daniela), in: Podszun (Hrsg.), Digital Markets Act: Gesetz über digitale Märkte, Nomos, Baden-Baden, 1. Auflage 2023.
• Moderne Zahlungssysteme unter wettbewerbsrechtlichem Vorbehalt? (Seeliger, Daniela), RdZ 2022, S. 73.
• ESG im Kartellrecht: mehr Guidance für Kooperationen (Seeliger, Daniela; Gürer, Kaan), in: DB 2022, Beilage 2, S. 42, 2022.
• Kapitel 6: Immobilienkaufvertrag, F. Fusionskontrolle (Seeliger, Daniela), in: Krüger/Pofahl/Kring (Hrsg.), Handbuch Immobilien-Transaktionen: Recht, Steuern, Markt & Commercials, Beck, München, 1. Auflage 2022, S. 305 ff.