Joel Rheuben

Joel is a senior associate within Herbert Smith Freehills' competition, regulatory and trade practice in Tokyo. Joel has broad experience in various areas of EU and cross-border competition and regulatory law.

Joel has worked with number of global and Japanese clients in relation to the merger control aspects of their transactions, as well as antitrust investigations by the European Commission and other regulators, in particular in the chemicals, resources, manufacturing and industrial, consumer goods and media sectors. Working with our disputes team, he is able to advise clients on competition disputes and other contentious matters.

Joel has previously worked in the Brussels and Tokyo offices of Herbert Smith Freehills, and has spent close to five years in Europe working on EU competition law matters. 

Joel is a fluent Japanese speaker and a graduate of the University of Tokyo. Joel is licensed to advise in Japan as a Registered Foreign Lawyer (Gaikokuho Jimu Bengoshi)

Joel’s experience includes: 

• Uber on the merger control and competition law aspects of its South Korean taxi-hailing joint venture with SK Telecom
• Anheuser-Busch InBev on the EU competition law aspects of its $106bn acquisition of SABMiller, which created one of the world's largest consumer goods companies (Global Deal of the Year 2016 - The American Lawyer; Matter of the Year - GCR)*
• Comcast Corporation on multi-jurisdictional regulatory filings in respect of its £30bn acquisition of Sky*
• AbbVie on the EU merger filing for its proposed £30bn acquisition of Shire Pharmaceuticals
• Furukawa Electric in connection with the European Commission's cartel investigation into high voltage underground and sub-sea power cables
• a Japanese logistics company and a European shipping company on the multi-jurisdictional merger control aspects of their proposed joint venture for inland finished vehicle logistics in South East Asia. This included merger filings in the EU, China, Korea, and Turkey

* indicates experience gained outside of Herbert Smith Freehills

Background

Joel holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Sydney, and a Masters of Laws (LLM) from the University of Tokyo.

Joel is admitted to practice in New South Wales, Australia, and as a solicitor in England and Wales.