Chambers Review
Provided by Chambers
Competition Law - UK
What the Team is Known For
Blackstone's barristers act across an impressive range of competition matters. Benefiting from a strong background in public law, the set is a superb choice for applications for judicial review of the CMA and other UK regulators' decisions. Members, praised for their ability to "navigate the most complex issues with ease and confidence", often act in leading cases in the technology and financial services sectors, including litigation relating to standard-essential patents, alleged market manipulation and abuse of dominance. They have been instructed in the largest follow-on damages actions in both UK and EU courts. They also feature prominently in novel collective action cases, including the McLaren v Kawasaki and Kent v Apple proceedings.
Gary Oliver is head of clerking.
Strengths
Adam Sloane is pragmatic, flexible, always available and understands the pressure solicitors are under. He takes a long-term view as well and will do everything he can to make it work for us.
Billy Brian is very easy to work with and very professional. He's always responsive and gives excellent recommendations on who we might instruct.
Danny Compton is really quick, very user-friendly and has a can-do mentality. He's great.
The clerks are very responsive, friendly and easy to work with. They will go out of their way to help.
Toby Dennison has been excellent, demonstrating a willingness to take a pragmatic approach in fee negotiation and proactively organise.
Notable practitioners
Brian Kennelly KC has a superb reputation for his skill in handling competition damages actions. He has experience on both the defendant and claimant sides of several of the most important cartel damages cases ongoing in the UK courts, and further earns praise for his advice on a wider range of regulatory or public law cases. Kennelly advises a diverse array of clients including those from the financial services and automotive sectors.
Brian has emerged as one of the stars of the competition Bar. He is always well prepared and extremely hard-working. His advocacy is always spot on, and delivered with charm.
Brian is simply one of the best barristers I have ever had the pleasure to work with. His expertise and ability to see a way through the most complex of issues is outstanding.
Brian is one of the pre-eminent silks doing competition work. He is one of the best in the field.
He's just an absolutely magical advocate. In that top slice at the Bar, it's very rare that you get someone like that who just naturally fits into the wider team and client dynamic.
Brian ticks all the boxes; he is a leading advocate who commands the respect of the courtroom and a strategic thinker who articulates the complexities of competition law in an easily digestible way.
Emily Neill is a go-to junior for regulatory authorities in defending challenges to decisions. She also has notable experience acting on both the claimant and defendant sides of competition damages claims.
Emily is very knowledgeable in competition litigation. She's strong in strategy and a safe pair of hands. You know you're getting reasoned thought and analysis.
She is incredibly bright and a pleasure to work with, Emily is an up-and-coming star.
She is really bright, intuitive in spotting points and issues, commercially minded and great to work alongside. She's a star of the future.
She is a very strong advocate who is able to calmly and effectively deliver in court. Her manner is outstanding, and she has an excellent ability to grasp complex factual issues very quickly.
Kieron Beal KC is well known for his work on state aid and subsidy control matters, acting for challengers, recipients and interested parties. He also has notable experience in behavioural litigation, advising claimants and defendants on damages claims.
He has superb oral advocacy, cross-examination and legal brain. He's down to earth and great to work with, I couldn't recommend him highly enough.
An absolutely first-rate trial advocate. He absolutely makes sure that he's across every bit of the detail. He's up to speed on every single thing, including complex economic feedback.
He is very experienced and incredibly good on his feet. He's really brilliant - he can pick out the technical points and how they work with other relevant areas of law.
Paul Luckhurst has demonstrated impressive strength in competition litigation in the financial services sector. He has notable experience acting on both sides of collective action cases and follow-on damages claims.
He is exceptionally bright, analytical and very thorough.
Paul is an outstandingly intelligent barrister who never misses a point.
His drafting is quick, accurate and to the point. He is razor-sharp in his analysis and not afraid to take bold positions in the interest of the client. He is tactical and strategic.
He's an absolute superstar, a silk in the making. He is amazing on the detail and on the law. He has this very clear way of cutting through the debate and always coming up with the right answer.
Paul is an outstanding junior. He is whip smart, user-friendly, and his drafting is excellent.
Thomas de la Mare KC is highly experienced in handling collective proceedings orders. He also represents clients in competition infringement investigations, including possible breaches of undertakings in merger control filings.
His charismatic advocacy means that clients and judges love him. He is fantastically energetic and always leads from the front.
I think he's great. He's hugely enthusiastic and really believes in what he's doing. It feels like he's part of the team. He is one of the leading practitioners, certainly on the claimant side.
Tom is an exceptional advocate - incredibly clever, with a vast amount of experience, and always very responsive.
He will always fight your corner. He thinks outside the box to find a winning angle. He brings real depth of experience; he's someone who has been around the block and seen it all.
Tom is a very punchy advocate who makes all of the points in a forceful and sophisticated manner which enhances his clients' case.
Hanif Mussa KC is instructed in a range of commercial damages and regulatory cases. He acts for the EC and for Ofcom in the defence of regulatory appeals brought to the CJEU, the CAT or the Court of Appeal, and further acts for private sector appellants.
He is a calm and focused advocate. He is astute enough not to be distracted by irrelevant matters and is skilled at ensuring a very thorough preparation for trial.
A thoughtful and measured silk with an ability to turn himself to anything on very short notice.
Hanif is an incredibly effective advocate. He's very incisive in his cross-examination, has very good attention to detail and really has the ear of judges.
Hanif is an excellent advocate with a calm and methodical approach and a laser focus on the points that matter the most.
James Segan KC assists clients from the telecommunications and sporting industries with competition law issues, often involving allegations of abuse of dominance. He is also active in the interface between competition law and IP law, handling cases concerning the FRAND licensing of standard-essential patents.
He's technically very good and is able to advocate very well. We come back to him again and again.
James is very forensic in his knowledge and application of the law.
Jessica Boyd KC has experience on both the regulator and appellant sides of competition law-based reviews of Ofcom decisions. She also stands out for her work on CJEU appeals of cartel decisions made by the EC.
An exceptional barrister who goes the extra mile to understand client needs. Her extensive experience of public and competition law allows her to develop innovative arguments.
Jess is a brilliant advocate and a pleasure to work with. Her advice is always straight to the point and she thinks very commercially.
I am thoroughly impressed with her grasp of the legal and factual complexities during trial, which shows through her skilful cross-examination.
She is ferociously intelligent and clear in distilling complex problems in a way that can be explained well to a judge. She's a superstar.
Gayatri Sarathy is an accomplished competition junior with significant experience acting for defendants in several collective action proceedings and challenges to CMA decisions.
Gayatri is one to watch, an emerging superstar. She is a delight to work with and incredibly bright. She stands out for her intelligence.
I've been super impressed by her. For her level of seniority she is batting well above that. She brings lots of experience and thinks about what really matters to the client.
She is absolutely exceptional, really strong on every single metric you'd want a junior to be strong on. Her drafting is also outstanding; she can synthesise extremely complex information with ease.
Gayatri's abilities belie her years of experience. She is so good despite being so junior.
Isabel Buchanan has amassed a notable body of experience in competition law, particularly through her involvement in the interchange fees litigation.
Isabel is quick to understand client needs and provides strong and effective advocacy.
Isabel is a very strong written advocate; she writes beautifully. On her feet in difficult hearings she is calm, clear and measured in court; she gets the trust of the court. She is great.
Isabel is an extremely bright junior. She is responsive, focused and delivers succinct and commercial advice in a way that clients are very pleased with.
She combines her superb technical ability with a tireless work ethic and a sharp tactical mind.
Tom Coates has an impressive competition law practice covering abuse of dominance and a variety of other matters. He is experienced in standalone claims, CMA appeals and follow-on claims, including collective actions.
Tom is very clever. He has impeccable judgement, is totally unflappable and is a joy to work with.
He's user-friendly, his written work is of very high quality and his analytical skills are good.
Tristan Jones KC has advised on the claimant side of key cases that test UK law on the certification of collective proceedings and has amassed additional experience representing plaintiffs in follow-on claims, as well as acting for the CMA on appeals against its decisions.
Tristan is a pleasure to work with. His advocacy is excellent, and his advice is always well considered and measured.
I think he's a superstar. He's unbelievably knowledgeable in competition.
I was deeply impressed by his advocacy in court, his command of the evidence and cross-examination skills.
A superb advocate with a style that judges really like. He has been making a name for himself, particularly in competition matters.
He's a big rising star. He's uber clever, very clear, concise and thoughtful.
Ava Mayer has considerable experience before the Competition Appeal Tribunal in high-profile competition cases, including the Umbrella Interchange Fee proceedings and the VW Emissions group litigation.
She is very bright, hard-working and provides very useful input on key legal issues and documents. Ava is a key member of the team.
Ava demonstrates a technical ability and confidence well beyond her year of call. She is consistently providing concise and commercially sensible advice.
She is always on top of what needs to be done and can be relied upon to make sure the case is progressing. Her analysis is at a level that is more senior than what she is. A star of the future.
She is always super responsive, very reliable and happy to talk through advice. She talks things through, listens to challenges and queries, and backs up what she says.
Jason Pobjoy has a broad competition law practice and is praised for his expert handling of private cartel damages claims, frequently advising the defendants. He also assists clients with CMA investigations. Pobjoy has played a key role in the defence of cartel damages claims on behalf of truck manufacturers and financial services sector companies.
Jason stands out as he is a good strategist, hard-working and clever. His judgement and client service skills are outstanding.
He has got very good judgement on how to characterise key legal issues and formulate convincing arguments. He's very practical in thinking about the client's needs and demands.
He has incredible instincts for what the court needs to hear and is a creative and clever lawyer.