Shearman & Sterling has announced plans to expand its competition law practice in Brussels.

Initially, the firm’s Düsseldorf competition law team, led by competition law partner Hans Jürgen Meyer-Lindemann, will be relocating to Brussels to augment the existing team there. Meyer-Lindemann will also serve as Brussels’ new managing partner. He founded the Brussels office in 2001, previously served as its office managing partner, and has continued to support it from Düsseldorf. In addition, London antitrust partner Matthew Readings will continue to spend a portion of his time in Brussels, and global support will also come from the firm’s competition law practices in Paris, London, New York, Washington, DC and San Francisco.

“Brussels is the home of the European Commission and a key center of competition law,” said Rohan S. Weerasinghe, Shearman & Sterling’s senior partner. “The firm is committed to our significant European competition law practice in Brussels, and we will also be recruiting other lawyers to support this important practice. We will continue to provide the highest level of European competition law service to clients globally.”

Shearman & Sterling has more than 50 lawyers in Europe and the US who focus on antitrust and competition issues, including an expanded antitrust litigation team in the US.