Alexandra is an EU & Competition law expert with over 20 years of experience, including 12 years in the UK, in private practice, international organisations, and academia. Clients value her high-quality, commercial, and practical advice on EU/Competition law, particularly under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the Digital Services and Markets Acts, and the UK subsidy regime. She also advises on competition rules compliance,
especially dominance issues, and the EU Green Deal’s impact on businesses.
Specialising in state aid and public fund structures, Alexandra helps businesses navigate complex regulatory environments, offering guidance on EU citizenship and institutional challenges under EU law. She is dual-qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales and a barrister at the Berlin Bar, holding postgraduate degrees in EU business law from
Panthéon-Assas University (distinction) and a PhD from Lausanne University (Summa cum Laude).
Her teaching roles include visiting positions at MIT, USA, and the International School of Management, Berlin, among others. She is also an expert tutor for MBL seminars and has authored award-winning publications.
Alexandra serves clients in London, Brussels and Berlin. She Alexandra can assist in English, German and French. She also speaks Spanish and Dutch.
Alexandra combines comprehensive knowledge of her practice areas with clear, helpful and reliable advice. Her input was essential to the successful launch of our £120m, publicly-backed venture capital fund.
Alastair Smith, Director of Legal, Compliance & Operations
The North East FundVery knowledgeable.
Mr Morar, Jisc
Expertise
- UK & EU competition law
- Trade under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (‘TCA’)
- EU Digital Services and Markets Acts and how these laws impact on large online as well as smaller digital service providers
- UK subsidy regime
- Compliance of commercial agreements with UK/EU competition law
- Dominance issues
- Public fund structures and state aid schemes
- EU Green Deal and how it applies to businesses
- EU citizenship
Experience
- Launch of a high-profile landmark case before the Court of Justice of the European Union seeking judicial review of the loss of EU citizenship of UK nationals through the UK/EU Withdrawal Agreement of 2020. This case, which does not question Brexit as such, has already been widely discussed in the press and raises fundamental issues of EU law. If successful, all British nationals who held EU citizenship upon withdrawal of the UK from the EU would have to be consulted on whether they would like to keep their EU citizenship or not. The case been successfully crowd-funded by the co-initiator and main applicant, Professor Joshua Silver, raising over £140,000 from over 5,000 supporters by mid-2021: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/eu-citizenship-is-a-permanent-status/updates#start
- Advising Jisc, the UK’s biggest provider of digital solutions for UK education and research, on compliance with all the changes that have been arising from Brexit. This is one of many examples where Alexandra has been accompanying clients through legal changes resulting from Brexit, enabling them to provide seamless services to their own customers while taking the necessary measures to stay compliant with the law.
- Advising a wide range of SMEs, such as Equazen, on how to legally trade under the TCA, including advice on rules of origin and the provision of digital services under the TCA.
- Regular provision of public affairs advice and guidance through actual and potential changes of EU law, including the EU Digital Services and Markets Acts, the Green Deal, the Clean Vehicles Directive, the Insurance Mediation Directive, the Public Procurement Directives and many EU laws.
- Setting up a £80 million fund for the British Business Bank and advising on several schemes, such as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme (with facilities of more than £400 million).
- Advising North East Access to Finance on its launch of the second-generation EU structural fund to provide investment capital, financed by public sector grants and a loan from the European Investment Bank for SMEs in the region.
- Acting as specialist competition law advisor for Royal Mail Group in respect of the compliance of over 50 business proposals advice with UK competition law.
- Successfully defended a CMA investigation into UK online pricing arrangements in the NHS
- Successfully defended a CMA investigation into UK online pricing arrangements in the rental agency market
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Professional recognitions:
“Practice head Alexandra von Westernhagen is noted for her ‘diverse knowledge of EU law’ and ‘ability to explain complex topics in clear terms’.” The Legal 500 (EU and Competition) 2020
Clients say “she is an excellent lawyer with lots of experience and practical solutions … She is also robust and very focused on achieving the right result.” Chambers (EU and Competition) 2015
She is also “esteemed for her magisterial knowledge of EU and UK processes. Dual-qualified in England and Germany, she adds strong cross-border perspective to the team.” Chambers (EU and Competition) 2017
Professional memberships:
- British Chamber of Commerce in Germany (BCCG)
- UK State Aid Law Association (UKSALA)
- The Law Society of England and Wales
- The Bar Association of Berlin, Germany
- Competition Policy International (CPI)
Legal awards:
Nomos book prize 2006 (one of the largest German-speaking legal publishers)
PhD of the year (2006), Lausanne University, Switzerland
Career
Alexandra qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2011 and in Berlin, Germany, in 2001. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2021, she worked at the following firms and international institutions:
- DAC Beachcroft (London office, 2009–2021; and Brussels office, 2006–2009)
- Latham & Watkins (Brussels office)
- European Commission (DG Competition)
- German American Chamber of Commerce (New York office)
- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)