Chambers Review
Provided by Chambers
Competition Law - UK
What the Team is Known For
Bristows is a popular choice with clients from the technology and pharmaceutical sectors for advice on the full range of competition law matters. The law firm has experience in merger clearance and NSIA filings, as well as in behavioural complaints, appeals against authority decisions and damages actions. Team members also have experience in subsidy control matters. The law firm is known for its ability to handle matters that overlap between intellectual property and competition law.
Strengths
The law firm is highly knowledgeable, efficient and respectable. Bristows is able to handle complex matters with a dynamic team across legal disciplines.
Responses are always prompt and provide the level of detail required.
The team is really prompt at responding and giving realistic and genuine timeframes. Expectations are extremely well managed.
Advice is never provided in a vacuum, but always with an eye for practical and commercial considerations.
The extensive experience of the Bristows team has been invaluable in terms of relevance to our own issues and has always been provided within the context of our commercial objectives.
Work Highlights
Bristows acted for CMA CGM on the UK merger control aspects of its EUR4.65 billion acquisition of Bolloré's logistics unit.
Notable practitioners
Sophie Lawrance defends high-profile clients against allegations of abuse of dominance. She also has experience acting for interested third parties on appeals against authority decisions. She has a number of clients from the technology and pharmaceutical sectors.
She is highly competent in competition matters and is detail-oriented.
She is kind, patient and puts a lot of effort into these cases which is greatly appreciated.
She is a very knowledgeable lawyer who has detailed analytical thinking. You know that she will think about any question you ask in a thorough and precise way which gives me a lot of comfort.
Sophie Lawrance is really sharp, picks up issues quickly and is very experienced. Her advice is pragmatic and to the point but she thinks through issues.
She asks the right questions and challenges them at the right time. She is very pleasant to work with and, importantly, she is also someone with whom you can have an open conversation about anything.
Stephen Smith has a broad competition law practice encompassing subsidy control issues, appeals against authority decisions and merger control filings. He also has experience in matters involving the National Security and Investment Act and in abuse of dominance complaints.
He provides advice that is measured while understanding our business.
I think he is clearly very experienced in his area of specialism. He particularly brings a good understanding of client imperatives and what they are trying to achieve.
Stephen Smith provides thoughtful and clear advice, helping to break down complex matters and presenting them in a way that is practical and clear.
Stephen Smith leads the competition law aspect of our work and has done so for many years, both skilfully and valuably.
He is very clear in an area that is vague; he cuts through it.