Pietro Merlino

Partner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

Pietro is a partner and the head of Orrick’s Antitrust & Competition practice in Italy.

Pietro focuses on EU and Italian competition law, advising and representing Italian and international players on the entire spectrum of antitrust and consumer protection matters, including abuse of dominance, cartels and restrictive practices, merger control, co-operation agreements, licensing and distribution, unfair commercial practices, as well as on general EU law issues.  He appears regularly before the EU courts and Italian civil and administrative courts, as well as before the European Commission and the Italian Competition Authority. Over the years, Pietro has developed a specific expertise in the application of competition rules in the life sciences’ sector, where he was involved in some of the most prominent antitrust cases of the last decade. He also focused extensively on the interplay between antitrust law and intellectual property rights.

Pietro frequently authors publications on antitrust matters and lectures at various Italian universities. He regularly participates as a speaker at conferences and seminars in Italy and abroad.  He graduated from the University of Naples and received master’s degrees (LLM) from the College of Europe at Bruges and the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He holds a Ph.D. in EU competition law from the University of Naples.