COMPETITION LAW

New starting in February 2024

The first LLM focused on competition law in the CEE region; supported and taught by experts from the national competition authority, leading lawyers and academics specialising in EU competition law. Presenting the full breadth of European Union competition law, from cartel prohibition and abuse of dominance to merger control and state aid regulation.

Successful graduates of this LLM will find better employment in the private and public sphere, in international institutions and business associations, as well as in academia, corporate education or the media.

LLM_Application form Specialization I, II, III_IV_V.docx

LLM in Competition Law – 1st semester – Compulsory course: Article 101 TFEU

8 credits

LLM in Competition Law – 1st semester – Compulsory course: Article 102 TFEU

8 credits

LLM in Competition Law – 1st semester – Compulsory course: Enforcement of arts 101, 102 TFEU

8 credits

LLM in Competition Law – 2nd semester – Compulsory course: Control of State aid and State monopolies

8 credits

LLM in Competition Law – 2nd semester – Compulsory course: Control of concentrations

8 credits

LLM in Competition Law – 1^st/2^nd semester – Elective course: Due process and Fundamental rights in antitrust

4 credits

LLM in Competition Law – 1^st/2^nd  semester – Elective course: The economics and doctrines of antitrust

4 credits

LLM in Competition Law – 1^st/2^nd semester – Elective course: IPR and antitrust

4 credits

LLM in Competition Law – 1^st/2^nd semester – Elective course: Network industries and antitrust

4 credits

LLM in Competition Law – 1^st/2^nd semester – Elective course: Private enforcement

4 credits

LLM in Competition Law – 1^st/2^nd semester – ½ Elective course (to be combined with another ½ EC): Pharmaceuticals/Healthcare and antitrust

2 (+ 2 for the following ½ EC) credits

LLM in Competition Law – 1^st/2^nd  semester – ½ Elective course (to be combined with another ½ EC): Sports and antitrust

2 (+ 2 for the preceding ½ EC) credits

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LLM in Competition Law - Lecturers

LLM in Competition Law - Lecturers

Václav Šmejkal, doc. JUDr., Ph.D., DEA. – course coordinator

Václav Šmejkal is an Associate Professor at the Department of European Law, Faculty of Law, Charles University. He has been working on competition protection for two decades as a teacher, analyst, corporate lecturer and consultant, author of studies and commentaries. He is a member of the editorial board of the ANTITRUST Revue of Competition Law, author and editor of books and studies on the history of EU competition law, the competition case law of the EU Courts, the impact of digitalization and globalization on EU competition law. In 2022, he organized an international conferee with the participation of EU Commissioner M. Vestager entitled Antitrust Hot Topics & Next Steps and edited the conference proceedings of the same name. Outside of antitrust, he focuses on EU consumer and social policies. He is also an arbitrator at the permanent Court of Arbitration at the Chamber of Commerce and Agrarian Affairs of the Czech Republic in Prague and since 2017 a visiting professor at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, and also a member of the editorial board of its INTEREULAWEAST scientific journal. 

Barbora Dubanská, JUDr., Ph.D., LL.M.

Barbora Dubanská studied at Law Faculty, Charles University in Prague, there she also acquired her JUDr. title in 2008 and Ph.D. in 2010. During 2000/2001 she studied at the Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf (Vodafone scholarship), in 2004 she studied at the Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon (Erasmus programme), and in 2006 at the University of Queensland, Brisbane (Exchange PhD programme, Mobility Fund & Law Faculty Fund scholarships). In 2007 – 2008 she gained her LL.M. title at the University of Cambridge in EU & Commercial Law (Cambridge European Trust Scholarship) where she continued in 2015 at the Judge Business School with Lifesciences Accelerator. In 2018 –2019 she gained the title Master of Healthcare Administration at Advance Institute in Prague. She is a member of the Czech Bar Association, ranked in Top 100 Women of Czech and Slovak Legal Industry and recommended by Legal 500 and Chambers. She worked for leading international law firms in Prague, London, Munich, Düsseldorf and Vienna. She was Head of CEE Competition and EU law at CMS Cameron McKenna and later a partner and Co-Head of CEE Lifesciences at TaylorWessing in Prague and Vienna. She has established her own law firm dubanska&co with focus on regulatory and antitrust in pharmaceuticals, healthcare, digital health, FMCG. She is a consultant to the Ministry of Health on electronisation of healthcare and regular speaker at competition (UOHS) and healthcare conferences. She speaks Czech, English, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Barbara Dufková, JUDr., LL.M., Ph.D.

Barbara Dufková graduated from the Law Faculty of Charles University (Mgr., JUDr.) and National University of Singapore (LL.M., Asian Legal Studies); she also obtained a diploma in French law from Université Panthéon-Assas Paris II (Diplôme d´Introduction au Droit Français) and participated in a one-year study programme in Chinese law at China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. In 2022, she successfully completed her PhD studies at the Faculty of Law of Charles University with a dissertation on the transfer of EU competition law to ASEAN countries. She publishes mainly in the area of competition law and comparative law with focus on Asia. She is a member of the Czech Bar Association and co-operates as an attorney-at-law with Skils advokátní kancelář, s.r.o.

Petra Košt'álová, Mgr., LL.M.

Petra Košťálová graduated from the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University in Brno in 2008. After graduation, she worked as an associate at a law firm with general practice. In 2010 she obtained her LL.M. in Competition Law from Queen Mary University of London. She has been working at the Office for the Protection of Competition in the Cartels Department since 2011, and since 2021 as the Head of the Cartels 2 Unit.

Lucie Mikulíková, JUDr., M.Jur., Ph.D.

Lucie Mikulíková currently works as a judicial assistant at the District Court in Prague. She worked in a specialized Chamber at the Municipal Court in Prague where she dealt with IP and competition law disputes. Prior to joining the Court she practiced competition law matters in an international law firm Skadden, Arps, LLP in Brussels, at the Czech Competition Authority and also at the Czech Supreme Administrative Court. Lucie earned her master’s degree in Law at Palacky University in Olomouc (Mgr.) and her postgraduate degrees at the University of Oxford (M.Jur.) and Charles University in Prague (JUDr., Ph.D.). For her doctoral thesis, she received the Praemium Excellentiae Award granted each year for the best dissertation thesis by the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague. Lucie is an author of a monograph entitled Private Enforcement of Competition Law in the Czech Republic: Theory and Practice published by C.H.Beck in 2020 and she regularly contributes as an author and co-author in Czech and foreign legal journals. She is actively involved in Florence Competition Programme “ENTraNCE for Judges” which organizes training of EU judges in competition law. In the past, she also lectured trademark law at the Czech Industrial Property Office.

Petra Joanna Pipková, JUDr., Ph.D., LL.M.eur.

Petra Pipková is a senior lecturer at the Department of Civil Law of the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague, where she teaches competition law and regulation in network sectors and law of obligations in the Master’s Programme for over ten years. Petra is also an attorney at the law form Havel & Partners where she specialises on competition law and also its private enforcement. She has extensive experience with proceedings in front of the Czech and Slovak competition authorities, the European Commission as well as civil courts and proceedings on preliminary ruling before the Court of Justice. She authored numerous publications on competition law and specifically its private enforcement, incl. a monography on the scope of civil liability for anticompetitive behaviour. She is also a co-author of two commentaries to the Czech Civil Code, incl. provisions on competition law. Petra graduated from the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague. She also studied at the University of Passau where she completed the Master of European Laws specialized in European and German business law with a focus on competition law. Prior to joining the Charles University and Havel & Partners, Petra worked as a scientific assistant at the Institute for European Tort Law, Austrian Academy of Sciences, focusing her own research on private enforcement of competition law.

Eva Slaměnová, JUDr.

Eva Slaměnová graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Masaryk University. At the same Faculty she received JUDr. degree in the field of European Union law. After the graduation she started to work in advocacy. In the year 2008 she joined the State aid Department of the Office for the Protection of Competition. She has been focusing on questions related to the transparency, disposal with public properties, audiovizual works and broadcasting. She took part in notification procedures of some state aid measures to European Commission, she was a member of working groups on state aid issues on both national and European level and she also participated in preparations of new legislation in the field of State aid. She lectures on state aid issues.

Hynek Brom, JUDr.

Hynek Brom is currently active as a member of the team for the preparation and establishment of the Centre for Competition Law at Institute of State and law of the Czech Academy of Sciences. After graduation in law from University of Western Bohemia (Mgr. 1999, JUDr. 2004) he worked from 2006 till 2021 as 1st Vice-Chairman of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition - Statutory Representative of the Chairman of the Office. Since 2017 he is also a Member of the Appellate Committee of the Czech Telecommunication Office and between 2017- 2019 he chaired the Appellate Committee of the Energy Regulatory Office. From 2011 till 2021 he was a member of the Commission for Administrative Law of the Legislative Council of the Government of the Czech Republic – Administrative Law 2. In 2020 he started his Ph.D. studies and dissertation at the Faculty of Law, Charles University, focused on procedural guarantees against unlawful interference of regulatory authorities.                                       

Ondřej Dostal, JUDr.

Ondřej Dostal is the Head of Competition Compliance Unit at the leading Czech energy producer ČEZ. Expert for Competition, State Aid and Public Procurement at the CZ Permanent Representation to the EU between 2007-2014, negotiating CZ positions in numerous cases with the European Commission and other EU institutions. Chair of the EU Council´s Working Party for Competition during the CZ EU Presidency in 2009. Director of the International Department and a member of the Board of Appeal of the CZ Competition Authority between 2004-2007. Co-author of Commentary on the Treaty on Functioning of the EU (Wolters Kluwer 2022), Prohibited Agreements and Abuse of Dominance in the Czech Republic (C.H.Beck 2010), and Commentary on the CZ Act for Protection of Competition (C.H.Beck 2007). Lectures in the whole range of competition law at CZ universities, specializes in corporate competition law compliance, competition law enforcement in the energy sector and state aid. Regular speaker at national and international competition-law conferences. Graduated from the Law faculty of Masaryk University in Brno (2000), obtained his JUDr. degree in European Law at Palacký University in Olomouc (2022).

Jan Exner, JUDr., Ph.D.

Jan Exner is a researcher and a lecturer at the European Law Department at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague. He graduated from the Université Toulouse 1 Capitole (Diplôme d’Etude de l’Union Européenne, 2015), the Faculty of Law of Charles University (Mgr., 2016; JUDr., 2018; PhD, 2022) and the Catholic University in Leuven (Executive Masters in Sport Organisation Management, 2021). His research focuses on the interaction of EU law and sports, most recently on the proportionality of sanctions for doping and the related role of anti-doping education. He published a monograph “Sporting Nationality in the Context of European Union Law” with Springer in 2019. On top of that, he published three papers in the peer-reviewed International Sports Law Journal, the world’s most widely read journal in the area of sports law (Law, Q02). He also enriches his research with supplementary academic and practical experience. In 2019, he was the academic director of the international Common Law Society Summer School: Global Law of Sport, View from a Mountain. He works closely with sporting governing bodies, particularly the Czech Olympic Committee, the Czech Anti-Doping Committee and the International Swimming Federation.

Vojtěch Horsák, Mgr.

Vojtěch Horsák graduated from the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Law of Palacký University in Olomouc. Since 2012, he has been working for the Office for the Protection of Competition at State Aid Department. He focuses on issues of de minimis aid. He conducts administrative proceedings relating to late records to the Central register of de minimis aid. He further specializes in export state aid and was also the leading Czech coordinator of the negotiations in EU institutions concerning Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market. After the regulation entered into force he shifted his focus on its implementation and factual use.

Miroslav Jakab, Mgr. et Mgr.

Miroslav Jakab graduated from the Faculty of Law, Charles University, in 2019 and from the Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University, in 2020. Between 2019 and 2022, he worked in the Parliamentary Institute of the Czech Chamber of Deputies as an independent policy researcher and analyst supporting the work of the Members of Parliament. In 2022, he further completed a five-month traineeship at the European Commission, Directorate General for Competition. He currently carries out research as a member of the Department of European Law of the Faculty of Law of Charles University, where he specializes in competition law and the economic reasoning related to it.

Jiří Kindl, JUDr., M.Jur., Ph.D.

Jiri Kindl is a partner in law firm Skils s.r.o. (formerly WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES). In his legal practice, he specializes primarily in competition and regulatory matters. Jiri Kindl graduated summa cum laude from the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague. He also studied law at the University of Limerick (Ireland) and a post-graduate course at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford (University College) where he obtained Distinction and Clifford Chance Prize for Best Performance in Magister Juris, Winter Williams European Business Regulation Prize and Monckton Chambers Prize in Competition Law. He authored numerous publications on competition law topics both in the Czech Republic and abroad, e.g. he is the co-author of a textbook on Competition Law (Prague, C.H. Beck, 3rd ed, 2021), Commentary to the Czech Competition Act (Prague, C.H. Beck, 3rd ed, 2016), Commentary to the Act on Significant Market Power (Prague, C.H. Beck, 2017) and Commentary to the Act on Damages in the Area of Competition (Prague, C.H. Beck, 2019). Jiri Kindl also lectures competition law and economics at the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague. He has extensive experience with proceedings in front of the Czech competition authority, the European Commission as well as civil courts and he is regularly referred to in publications such as Chambers Europe, Global Competition Review, Legal500 etc. as a leading antitrust lawyer in the Czech Republic. 

Jan Malíř, JUDr., Ph.D.

Jan Malíř graduated summa cum laude from Charles University School of Law (2001) from which he also holds his JUDr. (2003) and his Ph.D. (2009). He also attended various specialized courses at foreign institutions, such as the Hague Academy of International Law (The Hague, Netherlands), Academy of European Law (Florence, Italy), Institut international des droits de l´homme (Strasbourg, France), Humboldt University (Berlin, Germany) or Central European University (Budapest, Hungary). Since 2007, he has been a research fellow at the Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Since 2015, he has been a member of the Commission for EU Law at the Legislative Council of the Cabinet, an advisory body to the Czech Cabinet (Prague), since 2015, he has also been a member of the Steering Committee of the Centre français de recherche en sciences sociales (Prague). In the past, he taught selected courses at the Metropolitan University in Prague (Czech Republic) and University of Hradec Králové (Czech Republic). Jan Malíř has authored or co-authored some 16 monographs and more than 60 articles, reports and book reviews focused on EU law (in particular, institutional law and EU State Aid law), comparative constitutional law and selected issues of public international law.

Michael Mikulík, Mgr., LL.M.

Michael Mikulík graduated from the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague (Mgr., 2002) and from the University of Cambridge (LL.M., 2008) where his primary focus was on European competition law. Since 2010 he has been working at the Czech Competition Authority (“Office”), initially as Head of the Dominance and Vertical Agreements Department, then as Vice-Chairman of the Section on Protection of Competition and Head of the Appeals Section. On behalf of the Office he participated in Advisory Committees by the European Commission, DG Competition. Nowadays he is in charge of the unit tasked with the supervision of significant market power in the food chain. Michael contributes as an author and co-author in Czech and foreign professional publications. He participates in training judges in competition law within Czech Judicial Academy and lectures competition law at the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague. In the past he also lectured competition law in training sessions organized under the patronage of the United Nations (UNCTAD).

Jiří Mňuk, Mgr., LL.M.

Jiří Mňuk graduated from the Law Faculty, Charles University in Prague (Mgr.), and from the Faculty of Laws, University College London (UCL) (LL.M.; Competition Law specialism). He also undertook a one-year exchange study programme at the Law Faculty, Lund University in Sweden. He is an attorney-at-law registered with the Czech Bar Association. In his professional practice, he focuses on competition law and regulatory matters particularly in the telecommunications sector and other regulated industries. He possesses experience with handling European Commission’s investigations and advising clients on complex horizontal deals in telecommunications, such as mobile network sharing and co-investment agreements. He currently undertakes a PhD programme at the Commercial Law Department, Law Faculty, Masaryk University in Brno, where he focuses on legal issues at the intersection between EU competition law and telecommunications regulation. He regularly publishes academic articles in professional press and presents at academic conferences.

Aleš Musil, JUDr.

Aleš Musil received his Mgr. degree from the Faculty of Law of Charles University in 1992. In 1994, he completed postgraduate studies at the College of Europe in Belgium with a focus on European Union law and in 2020 he received his JUDr. degree at the Law Faculty of Charles University. Since 1994 he has been working in competition law and during his professional career he has worked as a trainee attorney at AK Linklaters in Prague and London, as Director of the Legislative and Legal Department of the Office of the Competition Authority in Brno, as Director of BNP Paribas for the Czech Republic and as Director of the Legal Department of Microsoft for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. From 2008 until now he has been working as a management official at the European Commission in the Directorate General for Competition (DG Competition) in Brussels. In the Czech Republic, he was a member of the Disputes Committee of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. He is fluent in English and French (working languages), Russian and conversant in German.

Kamil Nejezchleb, Mgr., Ing., Ph.D.

Kamil Nejezchleb graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Masaryk University in Brno and the Faculty of Business and Management of the Brno University of Technology in 2007. In November 2008, he joined the Office for protection of competition and since then has served in several positions. For the last five years, he worked as the Head of the Unit of Cartels and the Deputy Director of the Department of Cartels. He has gained extensive experience with the application of competition law abroad. He participated in internship at the European Commission - DG COMP and is active within the European Competition Network and International Competition Network. He also collaborated in the creation of the methodology for the leniency and settlement programmes and the preparation of several amendments of the Act on the Protection of Competition. He engaged in training of contracting authorities on the issue of bid rigging on a long-term basis. He completed the doctoral program at the Faculty of Law of the Masaryk University in 2019. His dissertation focused on the modernization of legal instruments for detection of cartel agreements, and he also implemented several specific projects which focused on different aspects of competition law throughout his doctoral studies. He is also engaged in long-term cooperation with the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Economics and Administration of Masaryk University where he gives specialized lectures on competition law and economics. He published several expert articles on competition. He is the co-author of the publication Economic Methods in Competition Law. On the 1 of April 2021 he has been appointed as the Vice-chairman responsible for the Competition section of the Office for protection of Competition.

Michal Petr, doc., JUDr., Ph.D.

Michal Petr is currently Head of the Department of International and European Law at the Faculty of Law of the Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic. He works there as a senior researcher focusing on EU law, in particular competition law, state aid, public procurement and regulation of network industries. He gained his experience while working for the OECD in 2011 and 2012 and especially at the Czech Competition Authority, where he was acting as Head of Legislation Department (2003 - 2009), Director of the Section of Legislation and International Relations (2009 - 2010) and the Vice-Chairman responsible for completion law and policy (2010 – 2015). He authored numerous publications concerning competition law, regulation of network industries and due process. He is a member of the editorial board of the ANTITRUST and Public Governance, Administration and Finances Law Review, as well as national correspondent for the European Competition and Regulatory Law Review and a member of the advisory appellate committee of the Czech Competition Authority and the Czech National Bank.

Petr Solský, JUDr.

Petr Solský graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Masaryk University in Brno in 1998. At the same Faculty he received “JUDr.” degree in the field of criminal law in 2000. He worked in public administration on several positions, for example at the Ministry of the Interior or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2003 to 2010 he gained extensive experience at the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU in Brussels where he was responsible for management of the unit for justice and interior issues including the coordination of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2009. Back in the Czech Republic he focused in particular on the area of information and communication technology, among others as a Deputy Minister of the Interior for this area in the years 2013 and 2014. On 5 April 2016, Petr Solský was appointed to the position of the Vice-chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition and entrusted with the management of the Legislative and Public Regulation Division. There several units and departments within his competence including State Aid Co-ordination Unit and Unit for Control of Unfair Trading Practises in Food Chains. Petr Solský has been focusing on a number of issues of administrative and competition law including the regulatory framework for public procurement and prohibited state aid. He is a long-term vice-chair of the Regulatory Impact Assessment Commission of the Czech Government Legislative Council (RIA Commission).

Martin Vitula, Ing.

Martin Vitula graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Administration of Masaryk University in 2001. In September 2001, he joined the Office for the Protection of Competition and since then has served in several positions. Since September 2007 he has worked as the Head of Merger Unit. He participated in short term internship at the European Commission - DG COMP and is active within the European Competition Network. He has contributed to the elaboration of a number of guidelines of the Office for the Protection of Competition related to merger control regime in the Czech Republic.