Alexander Israel is a partner in the firm’s Brussels and Berlin office and a member of the Antitrust practice.

Alexander chairs the European Competition practice and is the office managing partner of the Brussels office. He is a prominent antitrust authority and longstanding adviser to global companies and senior executives. His practice focuses on cartel and abuse of dominance investigations brought by the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office, as well as related litigation before the European and German courts. Alexander regularly handles high-profile cases — including the Air Cargo defense and the CDS defense (both GCR Matters of the Year). Alexander also advises on merger control and global regulatory approval strategies, for example for Amgen/Horizon and Pfizer/Arena. Main areas of his practice include technology, life sciences, aviation, automotive, and financial services. Alexander manages a high volume of significant cases, many involving cutting-edge legal challenges.

Legal 500, Chambers, JUVE, Who’s Who Legal, and Global Competition Review (GCR) rank Alexander as a leading practitioner for European and German matters. Alexander and his team won the award “European Competition or Antitrust Team of the Year 2023” (The Lawyer) for an antitrust litigation victory at the European Court of Justice.

Alexander is often asked to speak at conferences and universities and has authored multiple books and articles on German and European Union competition law.

Before joining Morrison Foerster, Alexander led the Brussels office of another leading U.S. law firm, where he played a key role in establishing the office and leading antitrust initiatives, frequently tackling complex and precedent-setting issues across transactions, investigations, and litigation.

He is admitted in Germany and Belgium and speaks German, English, and French.

Representative Experience

• European airline in various disputes with another airline concerning feeder flights, including litigation
• Representing Condor in its successful challenge of the European Commission’s approval of Lufthansa’s COVID aid
• U.S. technology companies in ongoing cartel investigation by the European Commission
• Represented numerous national and international companies in global cartel investigations, in particular in the automotive sector
• Secured full immunity for a leading U.S. company in the EC investigation “Car Battery Recycling”
• Represented WABCO, Trane, and Ideal Standard before the General Court in the bathroom fittings cartel case, resulting in a historic fine reduction of €205 million
• Represented a Swiss watchmaker in the EC investigation “Independent Watch Repairers,” resulting in a closure
• Represented a Swiss watchmaker in proceedings before the European Court and the European Court of Justice
• Represented the European Commission in the case T-441/14 “Power Cables”
• Represented Lufthansa and Swiss in their appeal of the cartel decision “Air Cargo,” achieving the first annulment of an immunity decision (Matter of the Year 2016, Global Competition Review)
• Represented a bearing manufacturer in the European Commission’s cartel case “Bearings”
• Represented two European airlines in the EC code-share investigation
• Represented a European investment bank in the EC’s proceedings into CDS (various allegations) resulting in a rare closure of the file after the Statement of Objections (Behavioural Matter of the Year 2016, Global Competition Review)
• Coordinated a global defense against private damage claims for antitrust violations
• Represented Lufthansa in the worldwide merger clearances for the acquisitions of Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and BMI, as well as the sale of BMI to IAG
• Represented Cisco in the worldwide merger control clearance of its acquisition of Tandberg and CoreOptics
• Represented Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines before the General Court in cases T-162/10
• Handled numerous EC complaints alleging abuse of dominance and defending such allegations