Mat is a professional antitrust economist with more than 30 years of experience. Who’s Who Legal 2022 ranks Mat as an economist Thought Leader and describes him as “a very bright economist who gets to the point,” who is “easy to work with,” and who receives acclaim for his “encyclopedic knowledge and excellent drafting skills.” Previously, he was chief economist in the competition department at Ashurst LLP. Mat has written widely on the subject of UK/European Commission (EC) merger control, including in the International Comparative Legal Guide to: Merger Control on such matters as the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA’s) use of pricing pressure tests in Asda/Sainsbury, mergers in dynamic markets, trends in merger control, and the failing-firm defense. He is coauthor of UK Merger Control: Law and Practice, Third Edition. He has written on economic analysis under UK and EC competition law, including competition pleadings in damages cases, pharma pay for delay, competition damages assessments, the UK collective action regime, stand-alone competition law actions, assessment of rebates post-Intel/Qualcomm, and the implications of big data in insurance markets. Mat has a master’s degree in economics from Queen Mary’s College.

Alison is a competition and public law specialist, recommended by Chambers, Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal. According to Chambers (2023) she is “incredibly clever, very effective, and very easy to deal with”,  while Legal 500 (2023) describes her as “A hugely intelligent barrister with a fine strategic mind, Alison is completely unflappable and a great asset on any matter”.

She is a highly experienced practitioner, having qualified as a solicitor in 1999 and been called to the bar in 2011. She represents clients across all areas of competition law, including in appeals and private disputes, follow-on damages claims, collective actions, mergers, antitrust, procedural infringements, director disqualifications and sectoral regulation. She regularly advises regulators and government, including the CMA, FCA and BEIS, so has insight into both sides of the enforcement landscape.

Alison also practises in consumer law, information law (writing regularly in the Freedom of Information Journal) and human rights law. She has a busy advocacy practice across a variety of courts and tribunals.

She is co-author (with Alistair Lindsay) of The EU Merger Regulation: Substantive Issues (Sweet & Maxwell, 5th edition, 2017), a leading textbook on merger control issues, described as “an indispensable authority”.