Competition
Our Competition Unit covers all areas of UK and EU competition law. These include commercial agreements, anti-competitive practices and behavioural issues in relation to 'dominant' companies, business strategies and internal compliance programmes, competition litigation and merger and joint venture clearances.
The Competition Unit’s clients range from major multi-nationals and FTSE 350 companies to charitable organisations, and include both private and public sector clients. It acts for both complainants and defendants in competition investigations, and is also on the panel of advisers to one of the UK competition regulators.
The Competition Unit has considerable experience of advising across a range of business sectors. These include: the retail sector, transport, financial services and banking, construction, sport, chemicals, IT, energy, media, defence, pharmaceuticals, food and drink production and distribution, and various agricultural sectors including the milk industry.
The Competition Unit’s principal areas of practice are:
- cartels and other anti-competitive agreements (including ‘Dawn Raid’ support)
- behavioural infringements of competition law by dominant companies
- competition issues raised by commercial agreements (including IP rights agreements)
- market investigations by the OFT and Competition Commission
- mergers and joint ventures (at both UK and EU level, including multi-jurisdictional merger filings)
- competition litigation (including actions for damages for infringements of UK and EU competition law and private enforcement of competition rules)
- utility regulation
- competition audits and competition compliant business strategies, including the implementation and development of competition compliance programmes
- state intervention in markets and trade issues (including state aid and non-discrimination issues and WTO 'anti-dumping' and other trade issues)
Where our work requires local legal advice or representation in other jurisdictions, we are able to rely on the Burges Salmon LLP network of 'Better Friends' which includes top-ranked lawyers in many jurisdictions across Europe and the rest of the world.
Chambers UK Guide to the Legal Profession comments on our Competition unit:
"Burges Salmon has a growing, full-service competition practice that consistently gives clients 'extremely strong and spot-on advice'.”
"The group’s considerable reputation is in part due to the work it does advising clients on the impact of the Competition and Enterprise Acts, including dawn raid support and handling investigations, particularly cartels."
All Partners and Associates in
Competition.