"Recognized as a Key name in the field of Competition and Antitrust"
By The Legal 500 EMEA

Overview

Gitit Levin Grinberg is a partner in the Antitrust & Competition Law Practice Group of the firm and responsible for overseeing all litigious activity of the department and advising clients on the relevant ongoing, non-contentious and contentious issues under her care.

Gitit has extensive experience in advising and guiding clients on administrative and criminal investigations conducted by the Israeli Competition Authority (“the ICA”) (including market, oligopoly, monopoly and cartel investigations), in handling appeals before the Israeli Competition Tribunal challenging decisions and/or monetary sanctions imposed by the Director General of the ICA for purported anti-competitive behaviour as well as in acting for clients in civil lawsuits based on antitrust grounds.

In recent years, a new wave of class actions has emerged in Israel, in which the applicants seek damages following decisions rendered by foreign courts and/or competition authorities of breaches of antitrust laws, or based on claims of abuse of monopoly power. Gitit has been active in this practice area since its inception and has garnered unique and specialist knowledge and experience in advising and successfully representing clients (usually high profile corporations) in defending class action suits brought against them.

Gitit also has vast experience in advising both local and international corporations on potential abusive or anti-competitive practices related to their ongoing activity and operations and in obtaining antitrust regulatory clearance in Israel, including within the context of multinational mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances and other collaborative and restrictive arrangements. Gitit also assists clients in preparing the groundwork, policies and procedures required to be followed in order to establish, crystallise and implement internal competition and antitrust compliance programs suited to their organisations and/or operations.

Gitit’s sophisticated approach and creative out of the box thinking for filtering through intricate legal and factual material, coupled with her talent and ability to explore and come up with creative ideas and solutions for overcoming untested legal challenges, places her as the go-to person for handling complex disputes.  With her accumulated knowledge and experience, Gitit is well-positioned to handle cases of such complexity and serves as an influential member of the team for steering the course of the litigation, to the satisfaction of the firm’s clients.

Gitit is recommended and recognized as an expert in the reputable international competition and antitrust rankings, such as Legal 500 (since 2016), and is constantly acknowledged by clients for her professionalism, devotion and diligence, as well as for her unique creative approach and out of the box thinking.

Languages: EnglishHebrew
Admissions: Israel Bar, 2008
Education: Tel Aviv University, LL.M., magna cum laude and the Dean’s List Tel Aviv University, LL.B., Commercial Law, magna cum laude

Experience

Examples of recent cases in which Gitit has been instrumental, are the following:

  • Representing international clients in defending a series of civil motions filed against them in Israel seeking to certify the relevant claims as class actions (“certification motions”), alleging our clients’ involvement in a global cartel, based, inter alia, on decisions rendered by the EC and US courts, including:
    • Successfully representing Sharp Corporation in precedent-setting proceedings both before the District Court and the Supreme Court for annulment of the leave of service outside the jurisdiction of the certification motion that was filed against it, Samsung Electronics Co., AU Optronic, Chi Mei and LG Display, in what commonly became known as the “LCD panels’ cartel”.
    • Representing British Airways in defending a certification motion that was filed against it, El Al, Lufthansa and Swiss for their alleged engagement in price-fixing activities related to cargo surcharges.
    • Representing Barclays Bank plc in defending two certification motions that were filed against it and other international banks, concerning, in the one proceeding, the alleged manipulation of Libor quotes and in the other, the alleged manipulation of Forex quotes.
    • Representing NYK Line in defending a certification motion that was filed against it and an Israeli shipping company (Zim) regarding their alleged participation in a “maritime transport cartel”.
    • Representing Scania AB in defending a certification motion alleging its participation, together with MAN, Renault, Volvo, Daimler, Iveco and DAF, in a global cartel for fixing truck prices.
    • Successfully represented Fuji Electric in defending a certification motion based on the European Commission’s decision to impose fines on what then became known as the “GIS switchgear cartel”.
  • Representing Procter & Gamble in defending a certification motion filed against it, alleging the price of Gillette brand razors in Israel as being unfairly excessive.
  • Representing Brother International Europe in defending a certification motion filed against it and an Israeli importer, alleging that they had both infringed the Israeli Competition Law and the Israeli Consumer Protection Law, by adjusting certain printers that were imported into Israel in a manner that led to Brother’s consumables that are purchased worldwide not being able to fit Brother’s printers in Israel.
  • Advising CMG Network (the cellular joint management network of Cellcom, Xfone and Golan) on ongoing antitrust issues.
  • Successfully represented IATA (the International Air Transport Association) in proceedings before the ICA seeking an exemption for the operation of its centralized settling program for airlines and travel agents (BSP) and a similar settling program for cargo (CASS).
  • Also successfully represented IATA in opposing appeals filed by the Israel Travel Agents Association with the Competition Tribunal, challenging decisions rendered by the ICA for having granted BSP exemptions over the years.
  • Representing the Israel Electric Corporation Ltd. (IEC) and one of its senior executives in a precedential case conducted before the Israeli Competition Tribunal, challenging the ICA’s decision to impose monetary sanctions, in unprecedented amounts, also on the IEC’s executives in their personal capacity, alleging abuse of a dominant position. In addition, representing the IEC in class action proceedings concerning the ICA’s said decision of abuse by the IEC of its monopoly power.
  • Representing the IEC before the Director General in various matters concerning the natural gas market, including the agreement with the Tamar partnership and the entry of private electricity producers into the market.
  • Representing the IEC in connection with proceedings alleging that the refusal of IEC employees to connect certain private manufacturers of electricity to the national grid supply was an abuse of a dominant position and a request to issue a mandamus order against IEC requiring it to connect such manufacturers to the national grid.
  • Successfully representing the IEC in a hearing concerning the Director General’s intention to limit the IEC’s expansion of production capacity given its monopoly power.
  • Readymix, a leading producer and supplier of raw materials for the construction industry (wholly-owned by Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. (“Cemex”)), in several antitrust-related proceedings, including in a hearing before the ICA regarding a draft guideline published by it concerning the methodology for defining a geographical concentration in the quarry sector for quarrying aggregates as well as in an appeal filed against the Israel Land Authority on a decision concerning quarrying rights.
  • Gitit also Involved in consulting on complex mergers handled by the group, such as representing Teva, a global leader and manufacturer of generic pharmaceuticals, in a transaction related to the disposal of its holdings in a dialysis treatment chain to the German company, Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA.
  • Successfully represented Teva concerning the Director General’s intent to declare that Teva and several other companies constituted a “concentration group” with regard to the supply of baby formula, which resulted in the affirmation of a consent decree by the Competition Tribunal.
  • Successfully represented Reshet-Media Ltd. in an objection submitted to the Competition Tribunal, regarding its approval of a restrictive arrangement filed by TALI (The Collecting Society of Film and Television Creators in Israel Ltd.). In addition, representing Reshet in a certification motion that was filed against it and other commercial broadcasting bodies, alleging that the broadcasting bodies coordinated the broadcast time of commercials. The certification motion was dismissed in limine.
  • Representing clients, such as Dagon Batey-Mamguroth Le-Israel Ltd., who were either prevented from submitting bids in tenders or whose authorities were somewhat limited, based on antitrust grounds.
  • Representing Bank Leumi in a precedent-setting appeal brought before the Competition Tribunal challenging a decision of the ICA that all major Israeli banks had unlawfully exchanged information regarding fees. The decision was annulled.

 

Recognition

  • Chambers Global 2024: “Gitit is amazing and always available. She is smart, clever and creative.”
  • WWL 2024: Gitit has been recognized by Who’s Who Legal as a leading lawyer in the field of Competition.
  • Gitit has been acknowledged by the WWL client choice 2024 as a leading lawyer in the field of competition.
  • Chambers Global 2023: “Up-and-coming partner Gitit Levin Grinberg assists clients from the energy sector with abuse of dominance investigations and with compliance with restrictive agreement regulations”.
  • The Legal 500 2022: Gitit was ranked as a Key Lawyer in the field of Competition/Antitrust, Dispute Resolution: Class Actions- “Gitit Levin-Grinberg is an expert in defending class action lawsuits and coordinates the firm’s work in that space where it arises from competition law issues including cartels and excessive pricing.”
  • The Legal 500 2021: Gitit was featured in the “Next Generation Partners” and Recommended Lawyer in the field of Dispute Resolution: Class Actions, and a Recommended Lawyer in the field of Competition/Antitrust.
  • The Legal 500 2020: “Recognized as a Key name in the field of Competition and Antitrust.”

Other Activities

  • Gitit serves as an arbitrator and mediator in the arbitration and mediation institute of the Israeli Football Association.

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