Freshfields advises as Tesco fights OFT's £10m price-fixing fine
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has been instructed to advise Tesco as the retailer fights a fine of £10m imposed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) over alleged price-fixing.
Tesco has two months to lodge an appeal through the Competition Appeal Tribunal against the OFT’s fine for price-fixing in the cheese market in 2002 and 2003.
In a statement, the supermarket said that it “reacted with surprise and dismay” following the OFT’s ruling that it colluded with suppliers and other retailers, branding the claims as “entirely without substance”.
Deirdre Trapp
The Freshfields team is being led by competition partner Deirdre Trapp, who has advised Tesco throughout the investigation, which is the OFT’s longest-running collusion probe.
Litigation partner Paul Lomas also advised, alongside senior associate Dan Burton and associate Mary Wilks, both in the competition team.
As well as guiding Tesco through the investigation, Trapp has advised on a number of competition matters for the retailer, including defeating the Competition Commission (CC) in a Competition Appeal Tribunal over the approval of new and extended stores (4 March 2009).
Readers' comments (6)
Anonymous | 12-Aug-2011 10:15 am
Freshfields... I'm surprised. I thought they would plump for Quality Solicitors or at a push get a cheap deal from someone like Dickie Dees.
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Anonymous | 12-Aug-2011 10:49 am
Anonymous | 12-Aug-2011 10:15 am
Haha. It's a bit like politicians and private schools. State schools are the best in the land when you hear them speak, but they all send their children private. In the words of Alan Partridge "It's different when it's your own kids".
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Anonymous | 12-Aug-2011 10:58 am
Whatever its faults, Tesco is eveidently seen as easy pickings by the OFT. Seeking to constantly 'nail' the Tescos of this world (regardless of how strong the case seems) gets the OFT in the headlines and seems to justify the OFT's existence in the public eye.
Clearly Tesco is not angelic, but such overly politicised campagins by the OFT does it no credit at all.
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A.Pedant | 12-Aug-2011 12:31 pm
Anonymous 10:15 I believe Partridge said something more along the lines of "you can't mess about when it comes to your own kids". Apart from that, carry on.
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Anonymous | 12-Aug-2011 1:42 pm
Cheese puns please...?
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Anonymous | 19-Aug-2011 8:14 am
Planning officers already act ultra vires in determining that there is no conflict of interest when commissioning so-called "independent" planning consultants to report on retail impact or capacity studies despite the consultant also acting as agent for the applicant Tesco albeit elsewhere in the country. So firms like GVA Grimley, Berwin leighton Paisner are little different from Freshfields given their approval through the OGC while simultaneously acting as policy advisor to 60 central govt depts of HMG , and at the same time occupying the role of lobbying agents in Westminster.
I'm quite certain it will be another case of "insufficient evidence to secure a likely prospect of a conviction".
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