Dr Thomas G. Funke, LL.M.

Dr Thomas G. Funke is the co-head of our international competition practice. He advises on antitrust litigation, cartel investigations and merger control.

In the European Court of Justice and the German Supreme Court, Thomas secured decisions in Hydrogen Peroxide (C-352/13), Akzo v Commission (T-345/12), CDC v Commission (T-437/08) and the BGH Coffee Roaster litigation. He represents Deutsche Bahn in one of the largest follow-on actions against the members of the European trucks cartel. Thomas is the vice chair of Germany’s Competition Litigation Forum e.V. and a Steering Committee member of the Cambridge Forum for European Competition Litigation.

The European Commission retained Thomas to defend its E.ON/Innogy and RWE/E.ON merger clearances against sixteen third-party challenges in the General Court of the European Union. Thomas obtained German merger clearances for several multi-billion transactions in the energy, technology and life sciences sectors. He recently represented Lekkerland before the European Commission and Germany’s Bundeskartellamt to obtain expedited clearances for its heavily contested acquisition by REWE.

Thomas successfully defended industry leaders in European Commission cartel investigations, including a global automotive component supplier, a leading German retail group and a digital champion from North America. Thomas also represented leniency recipients and negotiated settlements with the Bundeskartellamt.

Thomas has been recognised as a leading expert for the EU competition framework for the motor vehicle sector. He has led international projects involving the Block Exemption Regulation (BER), telematics and the connected car. Thomas has also counselled multinational corporations on EU distribution strategies and compliance.

He has published on the EU block exemptions, antitrust procedure, energy regulation, vertical restraints, digital antitrust and merger control. Thomas has spoken at the ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting and chaired international competition law conferences.

Thomas is recommended in Chambers Global, Who's Who Legal: Competition, Legal500, Global Competition Review, Handelsblatt and BestLawyers. His practice was nominated for the prestigious JUVE competition law firm of the year award in 2014 and 2017.

"A great antitrust litigator and a pre-eminent figure in European cartel investigations" (WWL 2017/18)
“Ranked” (Chambers Europe & Chambers Global 2021)
“Highly Recommended” (Global Competition Review 2021)
“A favourite among peers, who praise his ‘strong experience in damages claims and automotive matters’ and call him ‘an excellent litigation specialist’” (WWL 2021)