Sarah Blazek, E.MA (European Inter-University Centre, Venice)
Rechtsanwältin (Lawyer), Partner
Antitrust & Competition
EU State aid law and Foreign Subsidies
Environmental Social and Governance
Digital Business
Energy & Infrastructure
Sarah Blazek is a partner based in Munich, who also regularly works from our Brussels office. Her practice areas include antitrust and competition, EU State aid and the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation. Sarah advises clients on all aspects of EU and German antitrust and competition law. She represents clients before the European Commission, the EU courts and the German Federal Cartel Office. As a key member of the “Noerr Data Competence Center”, she helps clients design their future-proof data and AI projects in line with antitrust and competition law. Sarah also heads the EU State aid team at Noerr. In this role, she also assists clients in complex and time-critical proceedings before the European Commission and the EU courts, including specific challenges arising as a result of green and digital transformation. Based on her substantial experience in the field of EU State aid, Sarah also provides in-depth advice on the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation as a new instrument for extended State aid control. As co-head of Diversity, she is actively involved in Noerr’s Diversity Network.
Projects
- ATU: Advising the car parts and repair specialist on the competition and merger control aspects in formal second-phase proceedings before the Federal Cartel Office regarding cooperation with Carglass
- Federal Republic of Germany – Finance Agency: Providing the agency with State aid and merger control advice on a stabilisation package for TUI
- Heinrich Bauer Verlag: Advising the publisher on the merger control aspects of establishing a joint venture in the magazine distribution sector with Gruner + Jahr
- Schwarz Group: Advising on the merger control aspects of the acquisition of a significant number of Real supermarkets and the online marketplace real.de
- Bayer: Providing antitrust and competition advice on one of this decade’s largest IT outsourcing projects in Germany
- Condor: Advising the airline on State aid in connection with its successful restructuring, which included several notification procedures (2019 to 2021) at the European Commission and several proceedings before the General Court of the European Union
- Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action: Providing the ministry with State aid advice on the potential enlargement of the scope of application of the German Act on Reorganisation of Responsibility in Nuclear Waste Management
- J.C. Flowers & Co.: Providing the investment firm with extensive State aid and merger control advice on structuring and implementing the acquisition of shares in HSH Nordbank
- IFB Hamburg: Providing the Hamburg investment and development bank with State aid advice on setting up the “Hamburg Stabilisation Fund” and “G20 Hardship Fund”
- Deutsche Börse: Advising the stock exchange on the antitrust and competition aspects of a strategic innovation partnership with Google Cloud
- Major non-European fund: Advising in connection with the possible treatment of US tax relief under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation
- Steag financiers: Advising on State aid issues in a €2.6 billion transaction (corporate reorganisation of the power utility and sale to Asterion)
- Northvolt: Providing advice on the State aid and antitrust and competition law aspects of state infrastructure financing for a billion-euro project (battery cell factory for electric vehicles involving a total investment of €4.5 billion)
- Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action: Advising on the introduction of the German federal government’s planned electricity price cap as well as on the gas price cap. The advice included supporting the ministry in the contract negotiations with the transmission system operators for the implementation of the StromPBG with a value of several billion EUR.
Distinctions
- Key competition and antitrust lawyer at Noerr, Legal 500 Germany 2024
- “Sarah Blazek takes a very pragmatic, solution-focused and highly structured approach to her work… Her response times are very fast and she is very experienced and completely reliable. We can thoroughly recommend Sarah as an excellent competition lawyer.” (Client, Legal 500 Germany 2021)
- Frequently recommended expert in State aid law, JUVE 2023/2024
- “Next Generation Partner,” State aid, Legal 500 Germany 2024
- “Advises clearly and pragmatically, she knows everyone involved in the German government and EU Commission, and we always feel that we are getting great support.” (Client, Legal 500 Germany 2024)
- “Apart from having an excellent knowledge of her subjects, Sarah Blazek stands out for her great communication skills. Even in complex State aid procedures, we are always kept up to date and informed about all the next steps. Sarah Blazek is extremely well connected at the Commission, meaning that we always receive up-to-date information and requests can be fulfilled unbureaucratically.” (Client, Legal 500 Germany 2023)
Insights
Career
Studied law at Bucerius Law School, Hamburg and Paris-Sorbonne University
Received postgraduate degrees from the European Inter-University Centre, Venice and the University of Seville
International placements, including the Permanent Mission of Germany at the United Nations, Geneva; Alston & Bird, New York; and Yonsei University, Seoul
Competition lawyer at a UK-German Magic Circle firm (including a financial regulatory secondment) and a large German law firm in Brussels
At Noerr since 2017
Admitted to the Munich Chamber of Lawyers
Memberships
- German antitrust law association Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht e.V., regional co-ordinator for Munich
- The International Association of Korean Lawyers (IAKL)
- American Bar Association (ABA), Antitrust Section
- Member of the Noerr Japan Desk
Publications
- Intrigued by Future Issues (Neugier auf Zukunftsfragen), Portrait of Sarah Blazek (Portrait Sarah Blazek), azur Karriere (JUVE) February 2023, from p. 80
- Section 19 on Purchasing Agreements, Liebscher/Flohr/Petsche/Metzlaff (eds), Handbook on the EU Block Exemption Regulations (Gruppenfreistellungs-VO-HdB), 3rd edition 2023, from p. 515
- The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation, ABA Business Law Today, November 2023 (co-author)
- The Foreign Subsidies Regulation – What to expect from the “new kid on the block” (Die Foreign Subsidies Regulation – Was ist von dem „new kid on the block“ zu erwarten?), ZASA 2023, from p. 272 (co-author)
- The Commission’s final report on the sector inquiry into the consumer IoT (Der Abschlussbericht der Kommission zur Sektoruntersuchung zum Verbraucher-loT), WuW 2022, from p. 660 (co-author)
- Five questions for Sarah Blazek (Fünf Fragen an Sarah Blazek), WuW 2022, p. 640 (interview on the new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation conducted by Professor Rupprecht Podszun from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf))
- Substantive and Procedural Parallels and Overlaps Between Art. 107, 108 TFEU and the (Draft) Regulation, ZEuS 2022, from p. 453 (co-author)
- Chapter 5 (Antitrust & Competition), Kühne/Nack (eds), Legal Handbook on Connected Cars (Rechtshandbuch Connected Cars), 2022, from p. 179 (co-author)
- Initial findings of the European Commission’s sector inquiry into the Internet of Things (Erste Ergebnisse der Sektoruntersuchung der Europäischen Kommission zum Internet der Dinge), WuW 2021, p. 477 (guest commentary)
- Birgit Krueger, German Competition Authority and Sarah Blazek, Noerr, Charbit/Ahmad (eds), Women & Antitrust, Voices from the Field, 2nd edition 2020, from p. 73 (interview)
- On the subjective elements of inducement in violation of antitrust and competition law (Zum subjektiven Tatbestand der kartellrechtswidrigen Veranlassung), GRUR-Prax 2020, p. 557 (co-author)
- The State as a Provider of Capital and Collateral, Notes on financing construction and real estate projects in compliance with EU State aid law (Der Staat als Kapital- und Sicherheitengeber, Hinweise zur EU-beihilferechtskonformen Finanzierung von Bauvorhaben und Immobilienprojekten), NZBau 2017, from p. 67 (co-author)
- EU State aid law risks regarding construction and real estate projects, Recent developments in relation to the prohibition of State aid (EU-beihilferechtliche Risiken bei Bauvorhaben und Immobilienprojekten, Neuere Entwicklung des Beihilfeverbots), NZBau 2016, from p. 141 (co-author)
- The Court’s Judgments in the Ryanair and Aer Lingus Cases – adding another layer of complexity in fiscal State aid, EStAL 2015, from p. 340 (co-author)