Bio

Salome Cisnal De Ugarte is a partner resident in the Brussels office of King & Spalding, from where she heads the Antitrust & Competition practice in EMEA. She provides strategic and legal advice to companies and investors in complex competition matters, with a particular emphasis on EU and multijurisdictional merger control, antitrust investigations and State aid. She represents clients before the European Commission, national competition authorities and the European Courts. Recognized by Chambers as one of the leading antitrust lawyers in Europe, Salomé was named one of the world’s top antitrust lawyers by Global Competition Review in their latest “Women in Antitrust” report. In 2018, Politico Europe ranked her as one of the 20 “Women Who Shape Brussels” for her work as a competition lawyer. Praised by clients for her "brilliant" and "spot-on advice on the legal issues, as well as on the required strategy to get the best results,” companies come to Salomé for solutions on their most complex antitrust issues. She advises on all aspects of EU competition law and has substantial experience in cross-border mergers and joint ventures, high-stakes investigations and complex vertical issues. Salomé regularly advises public and private companies and private equity firms in phase I and phase II merger cases before the European Commission and national competition authorities. With increasing cooperation among antitrust agencies, she helps clients navigate complex reviews, negotiate remedies and obtain clearance, while coordinating filings and strategy all over the world. Salomé routinely counsels on competition issues relating to the digital and sustainable economy, such as distribution and e-commerce, cooperation agreements and technology licensing agreements. Recognized as a leading EU competition lawyer by legal directories, such as, Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, Global Competition Review and Who's Who Legal, she also frequently writes and speaks about competition law issues and legal developments. Politico Europe named her one of the 20 “Women Who Shape Brussels” for her work as a competition lawyer. Salomé graduated in Law and Economics (summa cum laude) from the University of Deusto (Spain) and received her LL.M. from Harvard Law School (USA) and her Ph.D. in law from the European University Institute (Italy). She speaks Spanish, German, English, Italian and French. She currently serves on the Harvard Awards Committee. She is a former Elected Director on the Board of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) in Cambridge (US) and the past President of the Harvard Club of Belgium. In 2021 she was appointed Fellow of Aspen Spain. Prior to joining King & Spalding, Salomé was a leader at other world-class law firms in the Antitrust & Competition space. Salomé is counseling clients from the Brussels office and temporarily from the Frankfurt.