When can a dominant terminate a business relationship? (Overview of Competition Events for April 2023)

Robert Neruda

In my third year at law faculty, I went to Professor Bejček's lecture on competition law and ... I was lost. I was dealing with antitrust law as a student, as a trainee at the Office for the Protection of Competition, as an author of several books, as a lecturer, as a deputy chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition, I worked at the court, until life took me to the legal profession. I like to learn how markets work, it fascinates me to be around great things. Competition law is the most, it sucks you in, but there is a risk it will drive you crazy. That's why I compensate: I run furiously and cheer a little less furiously at hockey games.

Ivan Rámeš

I've always liked photography, fast cars and new technology, which naturally led me to pursue a career in law in the areas of intellectual property - with a particular fondness for anti-counterfeiting, and information technology. Slightly outside these two fields, my other specialisations are consumer law, unfair competition, and contractual law focused on customer-supplier relations. If you can't find me in the office, I'm probably travelling and taking pictures in America's national parks.

Petra Joanna Pipková

I actually hated the study of law, or law as such. Until one day my father told me, try one more year in Germany and, if you don't enjoy it even then, you can go and study something else. In Germany, I got on a course in competition law by mistake and completely fell for it. Although it is actually a question to what extent competition law is still about law and to what extent it is actually about economics, behavioural economics, sociology, psychology, etc. In any case, it is fascinating. Then, during a visit to a research library, my second passion caught my eye, and that is contract law. Thanks to the increasing number of damages claims for breach of competition law, I can finally link these two passions.

Dalibor Kovář

I enjoy learning about the still unexplored corners of private law and the commercial aspects of our clients' practices, and I prefer to set up and negotiate any commercial agreements, especially those involving technology or intellectual property. My children still make me approach things practically enough and with an eye for detail, my penchant for playing the ukulele trains my patience and pursuit of precision, and travelling gives me the opportunity to take things easy. I try to make the most of it all when providing legal services, which I do not consider boring in the least, as some might think.

Ivo Šimeček

When I was deciding on law school, I had a feeling I was going to miss something. I also enjoyed science and mathematics, and at grammar school I studied in a class focused on programming. So I added a degree in economics to my law degree. Subjects that repelled others, such as statistics and economic and mathematical methods, I really enjoyed. After school, competition law was a logical choice for me, but during my short stint at the Office for the Protection of Competition, I also “sniffed” at public procurement. Today, with hindsight, I feel that it all came together quite nicely. Competition law itself is halfway between law and economics. My knowledge of public procurement gives me a good understanding of bid-rigging agreements. Well, and programming? That's there too, only instead of using “if then else”, you use the terms hypothesis, disposal, sanction.

Kateřina Slavíková

Law can be a good servant, but in its ignorance, it can also be a bad master. What pleases me most about it is when I can conjure up from a jumble of paragraphs a seemingly simple piece of advice that will be a good and sensible servant. I mostly specialise in health and pharmaceutical law in conjunction with personal data protection. I also like media and advertising regulation, and everything related to food (from paragraphs to culinary travel experiences).