A raft of litigation heavyweights have been called up to defend companies such as Volvo and Daimler, as they await a decision from the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) as to whether a class action against them should proceed. The High Court has transferred the proceedings against all 20 defendants in the £5bn trucks case over […]
Royal Mail, advised by a team from Ashurst, has been unable to fend off a £50m fine from Ofcom, after an investigation into the business’s practices in 2014 found the delivery giant had “abused its dominant position in bulk mail delivery”. Three-partner firm Towerhouse advised Whistl, then known as TNT, which was trying to break into […]
Backhouse Jones, alongside Addleshaw Goddard, has filed an application on behalf of 3,500 clients in proceedings against nine truck manufacturers which, if successful, could be worth as much as £5bn. The two firms have filed the joint application for a collective proceedings order (CPO) with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT). Should the CAT give the […]
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton-represented Google has been hit with a record £3.8bn (€4.3bn) fine by the European Union Commission (EC) for breaching EU antitrust rules. This is the second record EC antitrust fine that Google has been hit with in two years, following a £2.1bn (€2.4bn) fine in 2017, both of which were pursued […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has added a new antitrust partner to its Washington DC office from the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
Cadwalader’s decision to close its Beijing and Hong Kong offices will provide short-term relief to the firm’s financial results, but it won’t solve the real problems the firm has in the US.
Slaughter and MayCompetition team of the year The award-winning Slaughter and May competition team won an advisory spot last year on a groundbreaking appeal in the electricity and gas sector. The firm advised Northern Powergrid as it lodged an appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) against Ofgem’s decision to modify the electricity […]
The complexities of sleeping on the job and the perils of loose talk are among the subjects tackled by this week’s experts.
This week’s top briefings writers from TheLawyer.com cover the regulatory and competition sectors, including how philanthropic fundraising through crowdfunding can clash with insurance claims, new UK public procurement rules, and Ukraine sanctions law.
A hi-tech sector on a roll, growing Chinese investor interest, rows over competition law and booming M&A – things are buzzing for Israel’s lawyers.
UK competition lawyers have a new regulator and new rules to follow when handling mergers. Is it ‘business as usual’ as the old OFT and CC promised? April 2014 marked the beginning of a new era for the UK’s competition lawyers. Partly due to the Government’s drastic programme of spending cuts, the UK scrapped its […]
Panellists at The Lawyer’s recent Romania briefing heard much to encourage them to get involved in the country When it comes to investing in Romania there’s no time like the present, according to panellists at The Lawyer’s recent Briefing Live event on the country, held in association with Popovici Nitu & Asociatii. The watchword was […]
Magic circle firm’s ACT dept refuses to play second fiddle to corporate. By Gavriel Hollander Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s antitrust, competition and trade (ACT) team has, it is fair to say, stood head and shoulders above its UK rivals for some time. But with merger control not the lucrative stream it once was, this might be the […]
US-style class actions have been avoided… for the time being, says Kit Chellel
By Joao Afonso Fialho, Jose Miguel Oliveira, Angela Viana The fifth edition of this book aims to continue to provide those involved in handling shipping disputes with an overview of the key issues relevant to multiple jurisdictions. We have again invited contributions on the law of leading maritime nations, including both major flag states and […]
By Simon Barnes On 13 September 2018, the UK government published guidance on the application of competition law and merger control if there is no Brexit deal. The guidance forms part of the Government’s broader publication of technical notices to help businesses and individuals understand and prepare for a possible no-deal Brexit scenario. Consistent with current […]
By Samuel R Beighton On 18 September 2018, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”) announced that Heathrow airport (“Heathrow”) will pay a fine of £1.6 million in relation to an infringement of UK competition law arising from a restriction included within a commercial lease. Importantly, this case marks the first occasion that the CMA […]
By David Barron, Ailsa Carter ‘Brexit’ poses considerable challenges for intellectual property law and presents uncertainty as to the involvement of the UK, following its exit from the EU, in existing and proposed international regimes involving EU law. In March 2018, the text of a draft “partial agreement” was published . It indicates that, assuming the UK […]
By Georgiana Badescu, Mona Banu, Volker Weiss This is how it all starts: with a ring at the door We can only imagine how big the surprise must be when you find out that your Belgium-based office is being raided in an investigation by the Romanian Competition Authority. But it is a fact that the […]
By Stuart Young, Anurag (Ragi) Singh Every business involved in UK automotive is organised into some form of corporate entity which, usually, provides limited liability to its owners and a clear control structure through the board of directors. UK company law has developed closely with EU law over the last 40 years and is very unlikely to […]
By Dan Coote Initially, 5 Stone Buildings’ business challenge was to install the most effective and feature-rich chambers management software available. This would enable a more professional and proactive approach in a marketplace where competition is growing, and is set to increase further in the imminent future with the reforms ahead. An ambitious enough requirement; then […]
By John Kelleher, John McCormick, Rebecca Steens In ATF Overseas Holdings Limited v The Jersey Competition and Regulatory Authority [2018] JRC 004, the Royal Court has for the first time considered an appeal against a finding by the Jersey Competition and Regulatory Authority (the JCRA) of abuse of a dominant position. Carey Olsen successfully acted for ATF Overseas […]
The Portuguese Competition Authority (PCA) has concluded the road fuel price analysis requested by the Portuguese Government in June 2018. In this analysis, the PCA has concluded that almost half of its previous recommendations to promote competition in this sector have not been implemented or have only been partially implemented. The PCA has identified a […]
The UK is regularly listed as one of Europe’s top destinations for foreign investment according to figures published by UK Trade & Investment. The UK is definitely sending out the message that it’s open for business. According to UK Trade & Investment, the UK is currently the number one destination for foreign direct investment in […]
By Lee P McBride, Harjyoti Jhall The article assesses the impact on UK environmental law of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (commonly known as “Brexit”) and the likely direction the negotiations (in terms of environmental standards) will take in anticipation of the departure on 30 March 2019. At this stage, we can only speculate […]
Dutch Minister of Medical Care initiates dialogue with the ACM concerning potential abuse of dominance by pharmaceutical companies. In a letter of 16 November 2017, the Minister addresses the complexity of the development of medicines and the problem that expensive medicines pose to the national health care budget. The Minister also announced that he will […]
