Competition/Antitrust
Europe Guide 2024 : Hungary
Band 1
About
Provided by Baker McKenzie
Market leading practice that supports clients in complex Hungarian, cross-border and regional M&A transactions, and defends companies in contentious unfair market practices, cartels and abuse of dominant position matters before the Hungarian Competition Office (GVH), the European Commission and national and European courts, including in the first ever Hungarian competition matter before the European Court of Justice. The group regularly assists clients with large scale forensic audits and compliance investigations, often with the assistance of our market leading in-house forensic services. Represents clients at on-site authority inspections and dawn raids.
Chambers Review
Baker McKenzie maintains its position as one of the pre-eminent addresses for competition law questions in the Hungarian market. The law firm owes its leading position to its ability to handle both complex phase II merger control mandates and high-profile behavioural investigations into allegations of unfair commercial practices, cartel involvement and possible abuse of dominance. The team also offers notable experience in challenging decisions of the Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA). It has a broad client base that includes high-profile companies from the automotive, technology, retail and energy sectors. Clients further benefit from the team's ability to collaborate with the firm's global network of offices on multi-jurisdictional matters.
Work Highlights
- Baker McKenzie acted for K&H Bank in an appeal against the HCA's infringement finding following its investigation into an alleged cartel in the area of multilateral interchange fees.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"This is the team I go to when I need to resolve complex and sophisticated matters."
"The team are very client-centric and ready to suggest practical solutions that are easily understandable even if the client is not a legal expert."
"The service level is the best one can receive and the lawyers are very responsive, even if there is an unscheduled query."
"The services are client-friendly and are almost always on time. Written documents are easily understandable and well structured."
"The team have a very wide knowledge and can provide detailed and sophisticated answer to all questions."
"This is the team I go to when I need to resolve complex and sophisticated matters."
"The team are very client-centric and ready to suggest practical solutions that are easily understandable even if the client is not a legal expert."
"The service level is the best one can receive and the lawyers are very responsive, even if there is an unscheduled query."
"The services are client-friendly and are almost always on time. Written documents are easily understandable and well structured."
"The team have a very wide knowledge and can provide detailed and sophisticated answer to all questions."
Notable Practitioners
Zoltán Hegymegi-Barakonyi remains one of the top lawyers in the Hungarian competition law market. He particularly stands out for representing clients in high-profile cartel investigations and in significant reviews of fines. He also offers notable experience in abuse of dominance investigations and allegations of other unfair commercial practices.
"He is the doyen."
"Zoltán is a reputable competition lawyer with decades of experience. He is very knowledgeable and provides sophisticated and commercially-minded advice."
"In my view he is the best antitrust lawyer in Hungary."
"He has a very good personality and client management. He is always at my disposal and finds ways to help me solve issues. He is very helpful and very experienced."
"He provides a good overview of market trends and the legal framework in Hungary."
Márton Horányi has a broad competition law practice that covers representing clients in investigations into alleged unfair commercial practices and subsequent appeals against HCA decisions, as well as advising on merger clearance mandates, including phase II investigations. He also assists clients with distribution issues.
"He is client-focused, oriented on practical solutions, and respects deadlines."
"He has a very wide knowledge in antitrust issues and able to give answer for very difficult issues."
"He has a very sophisticated academic background, and provides business-friendly, to-the-point and very pragmatic advice. He is absolutely commercially minded and I fully trust his advice."
"He proactively helped our company's interests, prepared with exceptional thoroughness, and perfectly represented our difficult case."
"He is kind guy and very creative and his response is always on time. He's got an excellent intelligence and knowledge."
András Horváth enters the rankings this year on the back of notable work in behavioural investigations. He assists clients with investigations into allegations of unfair commercial practices, including abuse of dominance and cartel involvement. In addition, he represents clients in appeals against fines and offers further experience in the competition law compliance of distribution agreements.
"He is responsive, pragmatic and uncomplicated."
"He provided high-quality and pragmatic advice that helped me to resolve the question."
"He is very proactive and also he can think with our mindset, which makes the cooperation very fluent."
"I love that he presents it in a clean and understandable way to my internal - non-lawyer - colleagues."
"He is happy to work with the client to deliver the best work product."
Ranked Lawyers at
Baker McKenzie
Hungary
Members
Provided by Baker McKenzie
Industries
Provided by Baker McKenzie
Oil&Gas
Automotive
Consumer Goods
Energy
Manufacturing