Laurent Geelhand

Laurent Geelhand is Partner at DLA Piper in Brussels. He was the Managing Partner of Hausfeld in Brussels for 8 years. He is one of the pioneers of antitrust private enforcement in Europe. Prior to Hausfeld, Laurent was the European General Counsel of Michelin, where he turned Michelin’s European legal department into a profit centre by systematically pursuing actions against suppliers and securing multi-million euros settlements arising from the rubber chemicals, synthetic rubber and paraffin wax cartels using innovative litigation techniques and funding schemes. While at Michelin, he also devised a highly regarded and successful antitrust compliance programme using innovative communication techniques. For years, Laurent has been at the forefront of private enforcement in Europe having been involved in many landmark antitrust cases. Laurent has represented Michelin in the Michelin II abuse of dominance case, Boeing before the European Commission in the Boeing/McDonnell Douglas merger control case and Klaus Jacobs in the Belgian Barry/Callebaut merger control case, as well as Coca-Cola Enterprises in abuse of dominance litigation. Laurent is also widely recognized as an authority in European antitrust law and cross-border litigation, listed among the stars of the in-house antitrust bar by Global Competition Review, and is a regular speaker at leading conferences worldwide such as the ABA and French Supreme Court and frequently interviewed by the Financial Times and Business Week.