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Pierre is a partner in the Competition law, Regulatory & Foreign Investment practice.

Besides dealing with antitrust, merger control, foreign subsidies, FDI (foreign direct investments) and State aid cases, Pierre is a recognised regulatory expert in energy, telecommunications and transport. His antitrust experience covers cartel, restrictive agreements, abuse of dominance and abuse of economic dependency cases. He combines an in-depth understanding of economics and competition law, both at European and Belgian level.

Pierre represents economic operators (active, in particular, in network industries) before (national and EU) courts and (Belgian and EU) competition authorities. He has dependable experience in sectoral regulation: energy (application of network codes, prohibition of market manipulation and insider trading (REMIT)), telecommunications (digital markets act and electronic communications code), transportation (air, automotive and rail), retail and finance (insurance).

Pierre also implements tailor-made compliance programs in relation to these different competition and regulatory issues. 

Before being a partner, Pierre was a researcher in applied macroeconomics at the Université Catholique de Louvain (2002-2004), a lawyer in two Magic Circle law firms (2004-2009) and a prosecutor for the Belgian Competition Authority (2009-2013).

Education

Pierre obtained his law degree from Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) in 2001. Moreover, Pierre obtained a Bachelor of Science in Economics in 2002 and a Master of Arts in Economics in 2004 from the same university.

Admission

Pierre was admitted to the Brussels Bar in 2004.

Areas of expertise
Office

Brussels

Languages

French, Dutch, English

recommendations

"I left everything in your care and almost a year later my case was finished. People were courteous. Recently I insisted another friend use you."

James Watson, Lynx

"I left everything in your care and almost a year later my case was finished. People were courteous. Recently I insisted another friend use you."

James Watson, Lynx

"I left everything in your care and almost a year later my case was finished. People were courteous. Recently I insisted another friend use you."

James Watson, Lynx

"I left everything in your care and almost a year later my case was finished. People were courteous. Recently I insisted another friend use you."

James Watson, Lynx

"I left everything in your care and almost a year later my case was finished. People were courteous. Recently I insisted another friend use you."

James Watson, Lynx

"I left everything in your care and almost a year later my case was finished. People were courteous. Recently I insisted another friend use you."

James Watson, Lynx

"I left everything in your care and almost a year later my case was finished. People were courteous. Recently I insisted another friend use you."

James Watson, Lynx

"I left everything in your care and almost a year later my case was finished. People were courteous. Recently I insisted another friend use you."

James Watson, Lynx

"I left everything in your care and almost a year later my case was finished. People were courteous. Recently I insisted another friend use you."

James Watson, Lynx

"I left everything in your care and almost a year later my case was finished. People were courteous. Recently I insisted another friend use you."

James Watson, Lynx

Recognitions

Legal 500 2024 - Competition: EU and Global

‘Pierre Goffinet is a standout performer and a pleasure to cooperate with. He has a great willingness to dive deep into complex matters and to work at very short notice.’


‘Pierre Goffinet is an expert. He is pragmatic and truly adds value and understands economic, financial and business rationale.’


‘Pierre Goffinet is strong in many aspects, he worked for the Belgian Competition Authority and therefore knows how they work and act, he has a strong economic background and he is not only a competition lawyer but also a regulatory expert, which gives him a quite unique standing in the Belgium antitrust lawyer community.’

Legal 500 2024 - Competition: Belgian Law

‘Pierre Goffinet is a standout performer and a pleasure to co-operate with. He has a great willingness to dive deep into complex matters and to work on very short notice.’


‘The lawyers of Strelia, in particular Pierre Goffinet and Laure Bersou, are very professional, highly qualified and very good at analysing complex technical legal/economic matters.’


‘Pierre Goffinet and Laure Bersou are two lawyers with outstanding qualifications, experience and insight in complex legal and economic matters. They work together very well which gives confidence, a more informal and reliable overall feeling as a client.’

Legal 500 2023 - Competition: EU and Global

‘Pierre Goffinet and his staff all have the knowledge and availability to provide exceptional service to their clients.’


Legal 500 2023 - Competition: Belgian Law

‘Pierre Goffinet has extensive experience and knowledge in the energy sector.’


‘Pierre Goffinet is very reactive, knows his job, and is extremely pleasant to work with. Undoubtedly one of the best on the market.’

Chambers Europe 2023 - Competition: Domestic

"We were impressed by Pierre Goffinet for his competition knowledge and insights and very quick and efficient handling of our matter."


"Pierre Goffinet is extremely knowledgeable, knows in detail how certain industries work, where the issues are in competition law, and what the risks are for companies to be prosecuted."


"Pierre Goffinet always tries to meet the client's expectations as quickly and as well as possible."


"Pierre Goffinet demonstrated profound knowledge of our sector's technicalities and the ability to analyse complex regulatory issues quickly, understanding and combining technical and legal considerations. He was very enthusiastic, responsive, fully reliable, and overall pleasant to work with."

Leaders League

Highly Recommended in Competition & Antitrust - Antitrust & Merger Control

Legal 500 2022 - Competition: Belgian Law

‘Pierre Goffinet never misses an aspect, his work is of the highest quality, always very complete and to the point. Discussions with him are always very interesting, dynamic and give you a whole new perspective and energy to continue the work.’

‘I have a long lasting relationship with Pierre Goffinet and his team. He is a brilliant practitioner, a very nice personality and has an in-depth knowledge in competition law, including, but not limited to on the transport and energy market, the latter being more or less unique.’

‘Pierre Goffinet’s dual economic and legal role allows for a more pragmatic approach to cases, and the support goes beyond simple legal support. A global understanding of the client and his expectations, a sharp accompaniment in a warm and confident working atmosphere.’

‘Pierre and his team are one of the best on the market.’

‘Pierre has an economic background as well as a law background, which gives him an advantage in dealing with complex competition law issues on regulated markets such as energy markets.’

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