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Antitrust and competition | Freshfields

Chambers Review

Provided by Chambers

Competition Law: Litigation - London (Firms)

1
Band 1

What the Team is Known For

Freshfields enjoys an excellent reputation for activity across all aspects of competition law. The law firm is highly sought after by international companies from diverse sectors for merger filings before the CMA, with recent experience handling phase II investigations, as well as advising on notifications of foreign direct investment. The London office collaborates with colleagues across the globe to handle multi-jurisdictional merger clearances. The team is also highly regarded for representing clients in CMA investigations into possible breaches of competition law, as well as sector inquiries carried out by a range of authorities. The law firm boasts a strong bench of competition litigators who defend clients in a number of high-profile follow-on damages actions, including collective proceedings.

Work Highlights

  • Freshfields advised CK Hutchison Holdings on the merger control and FDI aspects of the proposed 3UK and Vodaphone merger.

Strengths

Provided by Chambers

Notable Practitioners

Provided by Chambers

Rod Carlton
S
Rod Carlton
S
Senior Statespeople

Rod Carlton has notable experience in merger clearance and National Security and Investment Act filings.

Rod Carlton is incredibly pleasant to work with, very responsive and does a good job of hearing where we want to land and getting creative.

He is incredibly smart, and is good at describing complex issues succinctly.

We like him and trust him. We find him very commercial.

James Aitken
1
James Aitken
1
Band 1

James Aitken moves into the top tier this year on the back of a broad competition law practice that encompasses both merger clearance and foreign direct investment filings, as well as behavioural investigations and market inquiries carried out by the CMA and other regulatory bodies. He has particular experience representing clients from the TMT sector.

We can rely on him to provide a realistic assessment of risk and his understanding of both UK and EU antitrust regulation makes him stand out from the crowd.

James Aitken is a master in the field, he's very experienced with a beautifully clear mind and great strategic sense.

James Aitken is brilliant, technically able but also a calm and reassuring presence.

Mark Sansom
1
Mark Sansom
1
Band 1

Mark Sansom stands out for his representation of defendants in high-profile follow-on damages claims, including acting on some of the most significant class actions currently before the CAT. He acts as the managing partner of the Freshfields London and Dublin offices.

Mark Sansom is a first-class lawyer and highly personable, he's a pleasure to work with.

He is an outstanding competition lawyer, who is highly knowledgeable, commercially astute and an impressive tactician.

Mark Sansom has a true depth of experience, he works on a lot of these litigation cases and is able to advise on these types of cases.

He is intellectually rigorous, extremely courteous and a pleasure to work with.

Alastair Chapman
2
Alastair Chapman
2
Band 2

Alastair Chapman has a strong focus on the competition law aspects of transactions, advising clients on merger clearance filings as well as foreign direct investment and National Security and Investment Act issues. He also advises clients on their involvement in CMA investigations. He is the global head of the firm's antitrust, competition and trade group.

Alastair Chapman is utterly impressive.

Alastair Chapman is super friendly and always on it, he can be trusted to deliver the right communication and understand what detail should be given.

Alastair Chapman's advice is at the highest level.

Bea Tormey
2
Bea Tormey
2
Band 2

As head of the firm's London antitrust litigation team, Bea Tormey has notable experience defending clients in private damages actions arising from European Commission cartel investigations. She also assists clients with appeals.

Bea Tormey is a leader in her field. She delivers sophisticated and commercial advice.

She leads the team with such skill and gets the best out of everyone while making people feel appreciated and supported. She is clever, completely on top of the material and is unflappable.

Bea Tormey is super clever and really fun to work to work with.

She is very calm under fire and also has an excellent sense of humour, which is essential on a long project.

Bea Tormey is pragmatic and super lovely.

Nicholas Frey
2
Nicholas Frey
2
Band 2
Nicholas Frey defends clients in private damages actions following decisions in investigations into possible abuses of dominance or cartel involvement. He has notable experience in high-profile class action proceedings, as well as assisting clients with appeals against fines. He counts transport and financial services companies amongst his clients.

He is an excellent lawyer with a keen eye for litigation tactics. He's highly focused on securing positive outcomes for clients and is engaged, hard-working and has great attention to detail.

He is an excellent strategist who is great to have on the team. He is deceptively laid back, but delivers excellent advice and is always working on the best strategy for the project.

Nicholas Frey is such a pleasure to work with. He is really good at challenging the assumptions about how you do things. He is very open minded and ready to fight his clients' corner.

He has good inter-personal skills and is a great pleasure to work with.

Simon Priddis
2
Simon Priddis
2
Band 2

Simon Priddis has a strong reputation for advising clients on a range of competition law matters, including acquisitions, investments and joint ventures, as well as assisting with behavioural investigations. He has substantial experience acting in the retail, pharmaceutical and private equity sectors.

Alexander Potter
3
Alexander Potter
3
Band 3

Alexander Potter often assists clients with merger clearance and foreign direct investment filings, as well as representing them before the CMA in behavioural investigations.

Alexander Potter is brilliant at what he does, he is client aware and measured in his approach.

Alexander Potter is very good at working with economists and integrating specialist advice into strategy.

Martin McElwee
3
Martin McElwee
3
Band 3

Martin McElwee often assists clients with obtaining CMA clearance for multi-jurisdictional mergers and investigations into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour.

Martin McElwee is so smart and clients love him yet he is really modest.

Martin McElwee is very hard working and provides excellent, pragmatic advice.

Michele Davis
3
Michele Davis
3
Band 3

Michele Davis moves up in the rankings this year on the back of her experience representing high-profile technology sector clients on market studies and behavioural investigations. She has further experience in the competition law aspects of proposed transactions.

Michele Davis is extremely sharp and practical. She gets stuff done and is not afraid to try and push the boat out a bit.

Ricky Versteeg
4
Ricky Versteeg
4
Band 4

Ricky Versteeg is an increasingly prominent lawyer who assists household names from the finance and automotive industries with follow-on damages claims and opt-out collective actions before the CAT. He moves up in the rankings on the back of positive comments from market sources.

Ricky Versteeg is very strong and doing good work in this area.

He is very bright.

Ranked Lawyers at
Freshfields

Provided by Chambers
Filter by
Band

London (Firms)

Competition Law

Rod Carlton
S
Rod Carlton
S
Senior Statespeople
James Aitken
1
James Aitken
1
Band 1
Alastair Chapman
2
Alastair Chapman
2
Band 2
Simon Priddis
2
Simon Priddis
2
Band 2
Alexander Potter
3
Alexander Potter
3
Band 3
Martin McElwee
3
Martin McElwee
3
Band 3
Michele Davis
3
Michele Davis
3
Band 3
Competition Law: Litigation

Mark Sansom
1
Mark Sansom
1
Band 1
Bea Tormey
2
Bea Tormey
2
Band 2
Nicholas Frey
2
Nicholas Frey
2
Band 2
Ricky Versteeg
4
Ricky Versteeg
4
Band 4