Linda Gratz

Linda is a Vice President at Compass Lexecon, based in Munich, Berlin and Düsseldorf.

She has more than 10 years’ experience providing economic advice across all areas of competition law, representing clients from a wide range of industries before the European Commission and in proceedings in Germany, Austria, and the UK. She has been recognized by Lexology as a leading competition economist.

Linda has advised on numerous high-profile cartel cases spanning a broad range of sectors, including fast-moving consumer goods (such as drugstore products, roasted coffee, confectionery, and flour), groceries, and transportation. She has also handled complex matters in financial markets, dealing with multilateral interchange fees and benchmark interest rates. Her experience further extends to cartel investigations in markets as diverse as capacitors, fashion, fire trucks, gas-insulated switchgears, and lotteries.

Her analytical expertise is equally evident in merger assessments, where she has worked on transactions across sectors including telecommunications, petrol stations, construction materials, copper, fast-moving consumer goods, press logistics and touristic flights. Her work encompasses both Phase I and II investigations before the European Commission and various national competition authorities.

Since her doctoral thesis, Linda has developed a particular passion for abuse of dominance cases. She has advised clients on matters related to predatory pricing, bundled rebates, excessive charges and refusal to supply. Her industry experience in this area includes rail, telecommunications, insurances, and IP-intensive sectors.

Beyond her casework, Linda has contributed to OECD roundtable discussions on the role of efficiency claims in abuse of dominance cases, underscoring her thought leadership in the field. She has also provided strategic advice to a German ministry on the organizational and methodological aspects of ex-post evaluations of State aid and contributed to research studies for DG Competition.

Prior to joining Compass Lexecon, Linda worked for another economic consulting firm in Berlin and Munich. She holds a doctoral degree from LMU Munich and has published extensively in leading international journals. Her research covers exclusionary practices, efficiencies in mergers, price discrimination, and pay-for-delay settlements in the pharmaceutical sector. Linda regularly shares her expertise at conferences.