COMPETITION AND REGULATION
LAWYERS

Use our legal expertise to get through multi-jurisdictional filing requirements and merger control approvals, from straightforward deals to complex mergers that are subject to a Phase 2 investigation. Our expertise extends to national security, foreign investment and foreign subsidy reviews.

We support our clients through every phase of their merger or acquisition, and routinely manage multi-jurisdictional processes globally.

We represent those concerned in breaches of competition laws – defending you or engaging with regulators to defend your interests. We respond to dawn raids across the UK and Europe and manage the process to its conclusion, including in the courts. When working with our team, you will be provided with crucial strategic advice that helps you identify potential issues in your operations. We guide how you address these concerns, including mitigating future risk and obtaining immunity from penalties.

Access legal advice around information gathering, market studies and investigations when regulatory bodies launch an inquiry. 

Multiple regulators like the European Commission, UK CMA, Irish CCPC, French Autorité de la Concurrence, German Bundeskartellamt, Spanish CNMC and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) may require your business to take part in large market studies and investigations. It's important your business interests are protected when asked for these submissions, we work closely with your project team to ensure your views on key issues will be clearly understood.  

At the beginning of an inquiry, we work with you to understand your commercial and regulatory landscape and its impact on your business. We collaborate to agree a strategy and ensure that your responses to the regulator's questionnaires are aligned with the strategic objectives of your business.  At the end, we will work with you on implementation of any outcomes and have supported clients in response to compliance with orders and undertakings. 

We have successfully supported many main parties in these reviews conducted by competition and sectoral regulators.

We act for both claimants and defendants in competition disputes, to protect your interests, mitigate your risks and deliver your best outcome. Our clients' competition disputes are varied and include collective actions as well as more traditional standalone and follow on damages claims.

You will work with a team that is routinely at the forefront of developments in this area, who have acted on the first successful damages action brought in the CAT (2travel v Cardiff Bus) as well as one of the first collective actions following the introduction of the new regime (Road Haulage Association v DAF & others) and the first opt-in claim in the jurisdiction.

Advising on competition law compliance is a cornerstone of our practice. We offer guidance in various contexts, including industry initiatives, joint ventures, distribution arrangements, public procurement, and scenarios involving companies with significant market power.

We ensure that our clients comply with competition law requirements without jeopardising their competitive edge.

We are specialists in sectoral regulation, including financial services and payment systems, energy, telecoms, water and groceries (GSCOP and the Controlled Land Order). 

Access a team that routinely work at the intersection of antitrust and regulation, and support strategic advocacy before the FCA, PSR, Ofwat, Ofgem, Ofcom and the ORR.

We are uniquely placed to provide comparative insights across different regulated sectors and have a rich perspective on new regulatory regimes, such as the CMA's Digital Markets Unit and the application of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

We advise public and private sector clients on the application of the EU state aid rules, we help you to find funding routes that are compatible with EU treaty rules and projects that are backed by the European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF). 

We also advise on UK and international subsidy control. We are representing a client in two CMA referral processes under the Subsidy Control Act.

We also advised the UK Department for Transport on the State Aid and subsidy control implications of its West Coast and HS2 rail franchises." and replace it with we also advise on UK and international subsidy control.

We regularly represent clients on CMA referral processes under the Subsidy Control Act, including the single largest ever notification with subsidies in excess of £10bn.