Javier Ruiz Calzado is a partner in Latham & Watkins’ Brussels office and Vice Chair of the firm's Litigation Department. Practicing EU and Spanish competition law, Mr. Ruiz Calzado handles a broad range of competition law matters, including merger control proceedings, global cartel investigations, abuse of dominance investigations and state aid cases. He represents clients in such matters before the European Commission and the European Courts in Luxembourg as well as before the Spanish competition authority and the Spanish courts.
While Mr. Ruiz Calzado represents clients active in a variety of sectors, he is particularly active in the electricity and gas markets. He advises on a regular basis a major international energy group on general competition and EU regulatory issues.
Prior to joining Latham & Watkins, Mr. Ruiz Calzado served for six years as référendaire (clerk) to Judge García-Valdecasas at the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (CFI), now renamed as General Court of the European Union. He played an active role in the CFI’s judgments in leading competition cases, such as Airtours/First Choice (one of the first annulments of a Commission merger decision ever) and Bayer-Adalat (a landmark case interpreting the notion of agreement under Article 101 TFEU and the legality of parallel trade restrictions under EU competition rules).
Mr. Ruiz Calzado frequently speaks and writes on developments in EU and Spanish competition law.