Overview
Sophie Lignier is of counsel with Foley & Lardner LLP and a member of the firm's Government & Public Policy, Antitrust, and International Practices. She practices European Union (EU) competition/antitrust law and regulatory law in the firm’s Brussels office and has been a member of the Brussels Bar since 2003.
As an EU competition lawyer, she has significant experience advising clients in the transport, energy, pharmaceutical, high tech and other sectors on a full range of competition issues. In particular, she assists clients in merger control procedure and also acts as a coordinating counsel with respect to multi-jurisdictional merger control filings. She also has broad experience in reviewing business practices to help clients in areas such as distribution, single-firm conduct, strategic cooperation and other business relationship with competitors, customers and other industry participants. She also helps clients developing compliance programs and assist companies with their implementation.
She also provides advice on a broad range of EU regulatory issues, ranging from pharmaceutical products, medical devices, chemicals and the environment including waste end-of-life products (more particularly electrical and electronic equipment under the WEEE directive) to regulatory issues relating to privacy and security. Her work is focused on helping clients to identify and manage the legal requirements that affect their businesses. She provides guidance through the EU decision-making processes and advises clients on the interpretation, application and enforcement of the EU laws and regulations to ensure compliance across all the EU member states.
Sophie is also a member of the Energy Industry Team, working with the team on issues involving the renewable and other energy sectors in Europe and advising clients on a series of ambitious reforms proposed by the European Green Deal.
She is an active contributor to the Annual Review series of Antitrust Law Developments (ALD) of the American Bar Association Antitrust Section.
She is a qualified lawyer in Belgium. Her native language is French and she is fluent in English and Italian and has a good knowledge of Dutch.