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. The law firm is known for its ability to handle matters that overlap between intellectual property and competition law.
Strengths
Bristows combines incredible technical knowledge with a comprehensive awareness of the jurisprudence in both the UK and other jurisdictions.
Bristows demonstrated its strong appreciation of our commercial objectives and a determination to find solutions that would work for us commercially and also satisfy regulatory requirements.
Bristows has a team of highly capable individuals who understand the specifics of our business.
Bristows provides pragmatic, hands-on advice. and is also really solution-driven with a strong business acumen.
All of the team provides high-quality advice rooted in deep expertise, which is then easily applied in the real world of commercial life.
Work Highlights
Bristows represented Panasonic in FRAND litigation against Chinese smartphone manufacturers Xiaomi and OPPO, seeking to secure a license for the client's 3G and 4G SEP portfolio.
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.
I am very impressed by her broad knowledge. She seems to have great expertise in her area and really gets through to the problem and finds solutions.
Sophie Lawrance is very bright and a good strategic thinker. She is focused on the key drivers of analyses for her clients.
She is extremely thorough and forensic in her ability to get across the detail of the product and the matters in the case, even across an extensive period of time.
She is superbly clever with a masterful knowledge of the law, and is incredibly thoughtful. She picks up on so many points that others would not ever think of.
Sophie Lawrance has a strong business acumen and her pragmatic approach has been hands on in our fruitful collaboration.
Stephen Smith has a broad competition law practice encompassing market investigations and merger control filings. He also has experience in matters involving the National Security and Investment Act and frequently advises clients from the TMT and life sciences sectors on competition law issues.
Stephen Smith has incredible commercial awareness in a variety of sectors and is very pragmatic in his advice.
Stephen Smith has an exceptional understanding of the real-world realities facing his clients and his advice is always presented as a clear solution to the question asked.
We are very impressed by his knowledge of competition and merger law, combined with his strong commercial focus.
Stephen Smith brings serious intellectual rigour to his work and combines this with significant advisory experience across a range of sectors.
He is always responsive and adept at getting to the key issues quickly.