A PREMIER COMPETITION LAW BOUTIQUE
Hansberry Tomkiel
Law firm
Hansberry Tomkiel is a unique competition law firm that combines the experiences of former antitrust enforcers with that of former corporate counsel and law firm practitioners.
Recognized by Chambers Europe, the Legal 500 and the Global Competition Review, the Hansberry Tomkiel firm offers advice and representation in all areas of competition law, consumer protection law, unfair competition and related litigation. The firm provides strategic advice and representation in complex cases in Poland, Brussels and the US. The law firm works with both Polish and international companies. To ensure a comprehensive and global approach, it cooperates with well-established and respected national as well as international law firms in Europe, the US and Asia.
Hansberry Tomkiel is differentiated from other competition practices in the market by its lawyers’ collective experience of having worked in: the Polish Competition Authority (“UOKiK”) and the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice; as a general counsel (UPC Poland); and in other respected law firms. Specifically, the lawyers in Hansberry Tomkiel well understand a regulator’s practice and approach in competition matters such as cartels, illegal horizontal and vertical agreements, abuses of dominance and concentrations.
In working with clients, the Firm excels in collecting, assessing, and piecing together facts that are important for a case. The Firm is known for consistently constructing solid arguments and defenses built on the facts, the law, and economics. If a client chooses to cooperate with a Competition Authority (leniency, commitments, or a settlement), Hansberry Tomkiel is skilled in assembling the relevant facts and explanations to meet the expectations of the Authority and to achieve a client’s chosen goal. In each industry in which the Firm's clients are involved (for instance: energy distribution; publishing; banking and financial institutions; retail; television; away-from-home paper products, railway parts), Hansberry Tomkiel encourages and expects its lawyers to invest many hours of the Firm's own time to learn and understand deeply the respective industry.
Hansberry Tomkiel provides comprehensive compliance assessments regarding all areas of competition law and consumer protection law. The Firm prepares and conducts tailor-made trainings and workshops for its clients.
In short, Hansberry Tomkiel is a “sure thing” for clients and potential clients who expect and deserve excellent representation. It is here, in the realm of exceptional client service, that Hansberry Tomkiel strives to maintain its success and to distinguish itself in the Polish and international legal markets.
Hansberry Tomkiel’s offer includes advice and representation in the following areas:
- Agreements distorting competition.
- Notifications to UOKiK and to the EC of mergers and acquisitions.
- Abuse of dominance.
- Antitrust damage actions (private enforcement in civil courts).
- Investigatory proceedings by the President of UOKiK.
- Appellate litigation following decisions of the President of UOKiK.
- Unfair competition litigation in civil court.
- Consumer protection - prohibited contract terms, unfair advertising, misleading information, breach of information obligations.
- State aid.
- Market supervision and product control (CE marking, general product safety, construction products).
- Contractual advantage cases (UOKiK).
- Payment gridlock cases (UOKiK).
Our team
Dorothy
Hansberry-Bieguńska
Partner
Offers unparalleled experience and perspective having worked as a lawyer and senior executive on both sides of the Atlantic; she is consistently recognized in international rankings as being a leading specialist in the field of competition law.
Małgorzata
Krasnodębska-Tomkiel
Partner
An attorney-at-law and doctor of law, specializes in Polish and European competition law (collusion, abuse of dominance, control of mergers and acquisitions); she is also an expert in consumer law and an academic lecturer.
Grzegorz
Materna
Senior Lawer
An attorney-at-law, Associate Professor of the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (INP PAN), specializes in competition law, in particular in cases concerning anticompetitive agreements, abuses of dominance and merger control; he is also an experienced consumer law expert and academic lecturer.
Dorota
Podsiedzik-Malec
Senior Lawer
An attorney-at-law, with many years of experience in representing entrepreneurs from various sectors of the economy before courts, specializes in consumer law and regulations regarding the marketing of various products, including construction products, as well as in competition law.
Articles
Apr
30
2021
2020 – Legal 500 Interview with: Dorothy Hansberry-Bieguńska, Partner
Dorothy Hansberry-Bieguńska explains how her firm approaches clients’ needs.
more...Apr
19
2021
New Fining Guidelines from the Polish Competition Authority
In late March of this year, the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (the “OCCP”) announced the issuance of its Guidelines regarding fines for engaging in anticompetitive practices. Much higher […]
more...Jul
21
2020
New Polish regime for the control of foreign investments
Pursuant to the recently amended Polish rules on the control of investments, the Polish Competition Authority (UOKiK) is empowered to review intended investments in Polish companies by investors who […]
more...May
13
2020
Competition in the times of… Coronavirus
Competition Authorities respond to the new economic reality created by the Covid-19 outbreak. While the pandemic crisis does not negate the prohibition of anticompetitive conduct, for many competition authorities, it […]
more...News
“III ENERGY FORUM OF SCIENCE AND ECONOMY. INNOVATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENERGY MARKET” – CONFERENCE IN THE INSTITUTE OF LEGAL SCIENCES OF THE POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
2021-10-19A representative of our law firm, Grzegorz Materna, attended a conference organized by the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences (INP PAN) and the Mercatus et Civis foundation entitled “III Energy Forum of Science and Economy. Innovations and Development of the energy market.” The conference was held under the honorary patronage of the Minister of Climate and Environment, President of the Energy Regulatory Office and President of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland. Mr. Materna, who is a member of the conference’s scientific committee, gave a lecture entitled “Competition law and energy markets today.”
At the same time, there was an announcement of the publication of a monograph entitled “Opportunities and threats for participants in the energy market.” Mr Materna and Jarosław Król, president of the Mercatus et Civis foundation edited the monograph, which is published and available in INP PAN’s e-Library of Law at: https://e-bp.inp.pan.pl/xmlui/handle/123456789/729
CONFERENCE “PENALIZATION OF VIOLATIONS OF LAW – DIVERSITY OF BASIS AND PROCEDURES” AT THE FACULTY OF LAW AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW
2021-06-18Our lawyers took part in a conference at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw on the occasion of the Jubilee of Professor Małgorzata Król-Bogomilska. In a panel session devoted to competition law issues, Ms. Małgorzata Krasnodębska-Tomkiel gave a lecture entitled “Non-statutory sources of law as a basis for penalisation in antitrust law”, while Mr Grzegorz Materna gave a speech on “Financial penalties and the qualification of complex market practices as separate violations of competition and consumer protection law”.
“COMPETITION LAW AND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. TEMPORARY CHANGES OR PERMANENT CONSEQUENCES?” – WEBINAR OF THE INSTITUTE OF LAW STUDIES OF THE POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
2021-06-17Our lawyers participated in the webinar of the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The subject of the seminar was: “Competition law and the COVID-19 pandemic: Temporary changes or permanent consequences?” Ms Małgorzata Krasnodębska-Tomkiel made a presentation titled “COVID-19 pandemic and new mechanisms of investment process control”. Mr Grzegorz Materna moderated the seminar and discussions among the three speakers and attendees, who numbered several dozens of practitioners and academics.
Link to the seminar -> “Competition law and the COVID-19 pandemic: Temporary changes or permanent consequences?”
COMPETITION LAW IN THE FACE OF THE CORONOVIRUS PANDEMIC – THE NEW VOLUME OF “iKAR”
2021-06-15A new volume of „internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (the online Antimonopoly and Regulatory Quarterly) was published (No. 1(10)/2021). It is devoted to the application of competition law in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and other economic crises. This volume of iKAR was edited by Grzegorz Materna, a senior lawyer in Hansberry Tomkiel.
Link to IKAR.