Maxim advises and represents national and international clients in high-profile and complex cartel proceedings, regulatory investigations and competition litigation before the German Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission, as well as in follow-on damages claims before German courts.
He is particularly well known for his work on landmark antitrust matters across a wide range of sectors, including infrastructure, defence, energy, food, media, and manufacturing.
Maxim has been involved in dozens of landmark rulings by the Federal Court of Justice on German antitrust damages law. He regularly represents defendants in antitrust damages claims.
Before joining Eversheds Sutherland, Maxim headed the antitrust practice at an independent German law firm and, prior to that, established the German antitrust practice for a leading international law firm.
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Maxim has represented a large number of clients in antitrust investigations in a wide range of industries. His recent experience includes:
- Successfully defending a German cable wholesaler in an investigation by the Federal Cartel Office; the investigation was officially closed in March 2026 without any findings of infringements
- Defending one of the largest German agricultural wholesalers against more than 10 antitrust follow-on damages claims
- Defending rail infrastructure company against more than 60 antitrust follow-on damage claims before various courts of first and second instance
- German Institute for Legal Departments and In-House Counsel: Antitrust Compliance Officer Training Course, March/April 2026 (in collaboration with Sascha Reichardt, Vice President, Division General Counsel, Agricultural Solutions, BASF SE)
- DKN Antitrust Compliance Summit, Berlin, November 2025
- German Institute for Legal Departments and In-House Lawyers: Leadership Circle Roundtable on Competition Law, Hamburg, November 2025
- German legal directory JUVE ranks Maxim Kleine as one of the leading 20 antitrust litigation experts in Germany in March 2024
- Maxim is widely recognised as one of Germany’s leading competition lawyers and is consistently ranked in leading legal directories, including JUVE, Best Lawyers, Legal 500, and Lexology
- Maxim regularly publishes on competition law topics and is a co editor of the leading German compliance news service “Newsdienst Compliance” (Beck Publishing, Munich)
- Member of the Board of Trustees of the Research Institute for Competition Law (FIW)
- Board member of the Kuhnke-Kreis e.V., Düsseldorf (contemporary history)
- Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Belgium in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein
- Admitted to the Bar (2006)
- European Commission, Brussels (2005/2006)
- Georg‑August University of Göttingen: Doctorate (Dr. iur.) in European and constitutional law (2004)
- Universities of Göttingen and Leuven: Studies in law (1994-1999)