Stefan Thomas

Professor Stefan Thomas holds the Chair in Private Law, Commercial Law, Competition and Insurance Law at the Law Faculty of Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany. He also serves as Director of the CZS Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Law and the Tübingen Research Institute on the Determinants of Economic Activity (TRIDEA).

His academic background includes a Dr. iur. summa cum laude from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (2004), and he is a fully qualified German lawyer. Prior to his academic career, he worked as an attorney at an international law firm in Düsseldorf (2004-2006).

Professor Thomas's research focuses on the intersection of competition law, digital markets, and sustainability. His work explores how traditional antitrust frameworks can adapt to new challenges posed by algorithmic pricing, platform economics, and environmental concerns. He has published extensively on merger control, the application of consumer welfare standards, and the evolving relationship between competition policy and societal goals.

His recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on the challenges that digital transformation poses to traditional competition law frameworks, particularly regarding algorithmic collusion and personalized pricing. He also investigates how sustainability considerations can be integrated into competition analysis without compromising the core objectives of antitrust enforcement.

• 2021: Antitrust Writing Awards in the category academic articles/mergers
• 2005: Prize of the Peregrinus Stiftung for his dissertation "Unternehmensverantwortlichkeit und -umstrukturierung nach EG-Kartellrecht"

Professor Thomas serves on several editorial boards including the Zeitschrift für Wettbewerbsrecht (ZWeR), and is a member of the Academic Society for Competition Law (ASCOLA) and the International Advisory Board of the Institute for Global Law, Economics and Finance at Queen Mary University of London.

His work bridges theoretical legal scholarship with practical implications for competition authorities and businesses operating in increasingly digital and sustainability-conscious markets.