Nicola Chesaites is a partner in Willkie’s Litigation and Antitrust & Competition practices in London. Nicola has extensive experience of competition damages litigation before UK courts, having represented claimants and defendants before the English High Court and the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, including applications for collective proceedings orders under the UK’s new competition class-action regime. Nicola also has significant experience in challenging and defending EU institutions in EU law matters, having represented clients in EU banking, trade, sanctions, customs, pharmaceutical, transport and competition law disputes. She has appeared before the EU General Court and Court of Justice in Luxembourg in over 25 cases, and represented the EU in many disputes. Nicola’s experience acting for both claimants and defendants, as well as her extensive experience of complex EU litigation provides her with an extremely valuable perspective for claimants and defendants involved in multi-jurisdictional claims, especially concerning matters of competition and EU law, before national courts and the EU courts in Luxembourg.

Sarina is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution team in London and Co-Head of the firm’s Competition Litigation practice. She has a wealth of experience advising corporates and financial institutions on contentious and regulatory matters, particularly in relation to competition litigation and competition regulatory issues. She is ranked as a “Next Generation Partner” for competition litigation by The Legal 500.

Sarina has extensive experience in the conduct of complex, high-value, often funded competition litigation before the High Court of England and Wales, the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. She is currently acting for defendants in high-value proceedings relating to alleged antitrust infringements concerning interchange fees, ATM transactions, foreign exchange, car parts, emissions, power cables, certain pharmaceutical products and a tech company’s digital store.

Sarina has significant trial experience for competition damages claims, having conducted (amongst other things) a three and a half month first instance trial, a ten-day Court of Appeal hearing and a four-day Supreme Court hearing in the first wave of the interchange claims. She has also been involved in key cases establishing competition law in the UK, including the interchange cases (which are a leading authority on limitation, restriction and pass-on) and the pharmaceutical cases (which are leading authorities on excessive pricing). Sarina works in close collaboration with lawyers from the firm’s other market-leading practice areas, including Antitrust and Foreign Investment, Financial Regulation and Corporate in cross-office, multidisciplinary teams.

Sarina is passionate about social mobility, gender equality, and ending the stigma around mental health awareness.

Belinda has more than a decade of competition law experience, and specialises in competition damages litigation before the English High Court, Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, particularly on behalf of multinational corporations in follow-on damages claims. She has extensive expertise in developing and coordinating multi-jurisdictional litigation strategies, both within Europe and beyond. She also represents investors in shareholder litigation.

Edward Coulson leads BCLP’s UK Competition Litigation and Class Actions practices. He advises on complex competition litigation and regularly conducts multi-party litigation before the courts. His practice is focused on cartel damages actions, abuse of dominance claims, and other competition and regulatory disputes, regularly involving group claims. 

Ed’s cases are frequently valued £100m+ and are a high priority for company boards and other senior stakeholders. Ed’s experience includes acting for lead claimants in three of the most significant UK cartel damages cases of the last decade: Trucks, Air Cargo, and Gas Insulated Switchgear.

A qualified solicitor-advocate, Lesley focuses on - often complex and cross-border - competition damages litigation.

Expertise

Lesley has extensive experience in managing multi-party claims and litigating against multiple defendants. She possesses considerable litigation experience in both the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the English High Court. Besides her expertise in dealing with follow on competition damages, she also manages abuse of dominance disputes, often against global corporates including tech giants.

She uses her expertise in European and Competition law together with her strong commercial acumen to focus and narrow the areas of dispute and to achieve compensation for businesses that have suffered losses as a result of illegal anticompetitive conduct.

Clients

Lesley advises and represents major corporate clients across a broad range of sectors and industries. She understands that litigation can be an unwelcome distraction for a business and makes sure that her clients achieve the best result with minimum risk and disruption.

Kim is a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills advising on the full range of EU and UK competition law issues, including strategic consideration across jurisdictions.  Kim has particular expertise in competition litigation before the English High Court and the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, and has also represented clients in front of the EU courts in Luxembourg.  Kim is a qualified solicitor-advocate and appears as an advocate in the Competition Appeal Tribunal. In recent years, Kim has built a strong practice acting in particular for defendants in precedent-setting competition damages cases, and is currently involved in defending several collective actions in the UK.

Kim advises a range of clients, including in the tech, transport, aviation, financial services, consumer goods and industrial sectors, advising on litigation, enforcement cases and merger control. She is a committee member of the Competition Law Association, the LawSociety Competition Section, the City of London Law Society committee on private actions, and the International Chamber of Commerce, working partly on private actions.

Kim regularly speaks at international conferences and has published extensively on competition litigation issues, including notably as co-author of the Sweet & Maxwell text book "Class Actions in England and Wales", the leading publication in this area recently updated in 2022. She is highly rated by the major legal directories across both Competition law and Competition Litigation, recognised by Legal 500 as a 'leading individual' and lauded most recently by clients as 'experienced and tenacious'.  Who's Who Legal: Competition describes her as 'a clever and strategic operator', who is praised for her cartels and litigation practice. Kim is also listed as an "Acritas Star" in the Acritas Star Report, a report on stand-out lawyers nominated by clients worldwide.