Allen & Overy announces the appointment of Vanessa Turner as a partner in its global antitrust practice. Vanessa will be based in the Brussels office, advising European and international clients dealing with EU and other regulators on merger clearance, cartels and other antitrust and competition matters.
Vanessa joins from Visa Europe, where she was General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Company Secretary. Prior to joining Visa Europe, Vanessa was a special advisor at the Office of International Affairs of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in Washington D.C. and New York. Vanessa is the only private sector competition lawyer to have worked for a European Competition Commissioner: she was a member of the Cabinet of the EU Commissioner for competition policy Neelie Kroes. Vanessa advised the Commissioner on a range of antitrust and merger cases and policy, including the Microsoft browser case and other leading IT cases, airline mergers, cartels and international cooperation.
Dirk Arts, head of Allen & Overy’s Brussels antitrust practice, said: “We are delighted to welcome Vanessa to our team. She brings a wealth of experience from the European Commission and the financial services sector. Vanessa will boost the capacity of our Brussels team, as part of our global network, to coordinate and handle issues relating to multi-jurisdictional transactions and cartel investigations.”
Vanessa said: “Allen & Overy’s international practice is a great fit for my European and US experience and I’m delighted to join their excellent EU competition law team. I look forward to returning to private practice to advise international clients on their EU and global antitrust strategies using my experience gained at the Commission and as a General Counsel.”
Oliver Fréget, co-head of Allen & Overy’s global antitrust group, added: “The combination of Vanessa’s EU internal experience and the DOJ background of John Terzaken, who joined us last year, gives us a unique perspective on regulatory issues and substantially enhances our global mergers and cartel capability.”
