Top-Rated Global Antitrust Practice Cleary Hires CMA Mergers Director in London

Ricardo Zimbrón, director of mergers at the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), returns to Cleary Gottlieb as a partner.

As a member of the firm’s leading global antitrust practice, Ricardo will focus on UK and EU competition law, including merger control, anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position and digital regulation.

Before joining the CMA in 2020, Ricardo was an associate at Cleary, where he gained significant experience representing clients before the CMA and the European Commission. He also advised on antitrust matters around the world and represented clients in disputes before the European Courts in Luxembourg, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal and the UK Supreme Court.

“We are pleased to welcome Ricardo back to the firm,” said Michael Gerstenzang, Managing Partner of Cleary. “Ricardo’s experience at the CMA is outstanding and will further strengthen our London competition team and broaden and deepen our market-leading merger control and antitrust practice in the UK and EU.”

Cleary’s comprehensive international antitrust practice is recognised for the sophisticated advice it provides clients on industry-changing transactions in a rapidly changing regulatory environment. As the CMA’s influence has grown and investigations have become more complex, Cleary has advised on many of the CMA’s most significant mergers in recent years, including Meta/Giphy, Veolia/ Suez, Broadcom/VMware, Sony Music/AWAL, Microsoft/Activision, Hitachi/Thales Railway, Peeing/MBCCAND Arcelik/Whirlpool.

“We are delighted to have Ricardo back. He is a brilliant lawyer, a star of his generation. His experience at the CMA is invaluable and will strengthen our ability to advise on the most difficult merger control and antitrust matters in the UK,” said Nick Levy, Antitrust Partner and Co-Founder of Cleary’s UK Competition. “Ricardo’s extensive experience in complex matters will further deepen our bench of former senior officials from UK, EU and US agencies and courts.”

“I am delighted to be returning to Cleary to work with some of the leading lawyers in the field,” said Ricardo. “Cleary’s long-standing Tier 1 antitrust practice is excellent and I am delighted to be returning to the team to help build on the group’s huge success. They have had extraordinary success in building one of the best antitrust practices in London over a number of years and I am looking forward to rejoining the team.”

Ricardo holds a BA from the University of Oxford and a BA in Law from City University, London.

Ricardo’s arrival adds to Cleary’s global strategic growth across key practice areas over the past 18 months. The firm recently welcomed partner Alex van der Gaag and solicitor Jo Roberts to its private equity practice in London.