Stephen Critchley is a partner in the firm’s Antitrust Litigation and Counselling and Commercial Litigation Groups.

He has over 20 years’ experience in the resolution of high value commercial disputes in court and arbitral proceedings. He has developed a focus on competition law – and particularly antitrust damages actions – since acting for the claimant in the landmark case of Crehan v Inntrepreneur Pub Company.

Stephen has higher rights of audience in the English courts and is a fluent Spanish speaker.

David Matthew is an antitrust and competition expert based in London. He applies 30 years of experience as an economic consultant and Director of Economics at Ofcom to offer clients thoughtful analysis and expert evidence in competition and regulation matters.

Mr. Matthew has particular expertise in the telecommunications, broadcast, media, sports rights, big tech, and post sectors. While at Ofcom, he led economic analysis on many key competition and regulation cases, including the Royal Mail abuse of dominance appeal and keynote market reviews of BT plc, Royal Mail plc, and Sky plc. Mr. Matthew also specializes in aviation, having been chief economist at the Civil Aviation Authority and done extensive advisory work as a consultant.

Beyond his expertise in communications and aviation, Mr. Matthew’s work covers a variety of industries, including intellectual property, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, and consumer goods.

Mr. Matthew is an experienced expert witness. He has submitted expert reports and given oral expert testimony on numerous occasions before the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the High Court, international arbitration tribunals, and in other court proceedings. Some of his more notable cases of expert testimony include Royal Mail v. Ofcom (2019), BT v. Ofcom—Pay-TV (2016), and BT v. Ofcom—Margin Squeeze Regulation (2015).

Sophie is a partner at Bristows LLP based in London and Brussels.  She specialises in EU and UK competition law and litigation, with a particular interest in working with businesses in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors. Recent work in the tech sector has included advising on ‘traditional’ competition law issues and those arising out of the DMA, alongside a significant litigation caseload, acting for companies like Google and Samsung.

Sophie also handles competition authority investigations at both EU and national level, from dawn raids to appeals. Issues on which she has advised in this context include both substantive competition law and procedural issues, such as legal professional privilege, as well as dealing with competition director disqualification cases which are now a focus for the UK competition regulator.

Case Handler Officer focusing on the implementation of the Digital Markets Act and antitrust applied to digital platforms (following +10 years of experience in private practice).