The Merger Control Forum 2024

Stijn is a partner at Geradin Partners. Before joining the firm, Stijn was Legal Director at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

At Geradin Partners, Stijn plays a leading role in the multi-jurisdictional litigation on behalf of publishers against Google relating to its practices in advertising technology (Ad Tech). He is also involved in litigation against Apple relating to the App Store. Outside of litigation, Stijn represents clients in investigations before the European Commission, CMA and Dutch ACM, both defendant and complainant side.

At the CMA, Stijn built up extensive experience leading complex competition investigations. Stijn led the legal teams in a number of high-profile investigations in the life sciences sector, including Hydrocortisone, which featured a record-breaking £260m penalty, Fludrocortisone in which the CMA secured a multi-million settlement for the National Health Service, and Quantum Pharmaceuticals.

Stijn also led the CMA’s legal preparations for Brexit, advising the UK Government on all legislation and guidance required to prepare the UK’s competition regime for Brexit. In addition, he represented the UK in its final competition intervention in the EU Courts in the landmark merger appeal in Case T-399/16 CK Telecoms v Commission. Stijn also advised the UK Government on the Exclusion Orders issued by the Secretary of State to the Groceries, Healthcare and Transport sectors in response to the coronavirus crisis.

Stijn is Dutch-qualified and fluent in Dutch and, prior to joining the CMA eight years ago, advised clients in relation to Dutch and EU-related issues at Houthoff, a leading independent Dutch firm.

Ingrid Vandenborre is the partner in charge of Skadden’s Brussels office and co-head of Skadden’s European Antitrust/Competition practice. Her practice focuses on EU and international merger control and competition law enforcement.

Ms. Vandenborre has been consistently named as a leading practitioner in Who’s Who Legal guides in both competition and life sciences, as well as repeatedly in Chambers Global, Chambers Europe and The Legal 500 EMEA. In 2023, she was named Antitrust & Competition Lawyer of the Year at the Women in Business Law EMEA Awards. Ms. Vandenborre also was named Lawyer of the Year by Global Competition Review in 2022, was selected to GCR’s Women in Antitrust list in 2021 and was recognized for her representation of Aspen Pharmacare in relation to the European Commission’s (EC) Article 102 investigation of the company’s pricing practices, which was named European Behavioural Matter of the Year by the publication. In addition, she was named a 2021 Competition MVP by Law360, a 2021 Litigation Star for Belgium - Competition/Antitrust by Benchmark Litigation Europe and Competition Lawyer of the Year at Benchmark Litigation Europe’s 2020 Awards, which also recognized her work advising Aspen as an Impact Case of the Year. She currently serves as nongovernmental adviser to the intergovernmental International Competition Network.

Jonathan is a Partner in our Antitrust & Foreign Investment group and has extensive experience across a range of competition matters, including merger control and complex antitrust issues. Jonathan has advised a number of companies in relation to competition investigations conducted by the FCA, the CMA and the European Commission and advises companies across a diverse range of sectors, including financial services, pharmaceuticals and utilities.

Jonathan has particular expertise on UK competition law issues having spent six months on secondment to the mergers branch at the Competition and Markets Authority.

Particular work highlights include advising:

• Jonathan’s experience includes advising:
• National Fostering Agency on its acquisition of Acorn Care and Outcomes First Group
• Anglo American on its UK construction materials joint venture with Lafarge
• Intu plc on its aborted merger with Hammerson plc
• TMX (owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange) on its acquisition of Trayport
• Visa Europe on its acquisition of Rambus’ payment tokenisation services
• Teva/IVAX in relation to the CMA’s investigation into paroxetine
• Centrica plc in the CMA’s market investigation into retail and wholesale energy supply
• In relation to a CMA investigation into alleged excessive pricing in the pharmaceutical sector

Karin Roberts is specialised in competition law. She has a broad experience of all kind of competition law matters including anti-competitive behavior, abuse of dominant position, merger control and competition neutrality. She regularly assists clients in cartel investigations, dawn raids, merger filings and compliance matters. Karin is a member of Delphi’s Life Science group and often advises clients in the pharmaceutical sector. Karin Roberts has from her time as deputy head of the competition neutrality unit at the Swedish Competition Authority, specific experience of public sector and can provide clients with distinct advice in matters with a public affiliation. Karin assists clients in all regulatory matters.

Karin is an experienced lecturer. She has participated in several conferences as speaker and as moderator, both in Sweden and abroad.

Elin Moen has broad experience handling complex competition law matters in Norway and internationally. She advises on all areas of competition law, including competition litigation and competition policy matters.

Moen has previous experience as in-house counsel in an international group, focusing on media, technology and the digital sector. Her professional experience also includes serving as a member of the Norwegian Competition Appeals Tribunal, as well as deputy judge at district court level.

In addition to the competition law focus, Moen has extensive experience from advising on a variety of IP-related matters, patent litigation and regulatory matters in the life science field.

Ian Giles is an antitrust, competition and regulatory lawyer working from our London and Brussels offices.  He has been involved in a number of significant cases in recent years across the spectrum of competition law, including: securing approvals for major transactions; representing clients in high-profile market and competition investigations; and advising on disputes in respect of competition, regulatory and trade law.

Ian is ranked as a Leading Individual in Chambers, The Legal 500, and Who's Who Legal, with Chambers describing him as "a great lawyer, someone who's very responsive, practical and thoughtful. He's very focused on trying to find solutions."  He is also recognized for his "excellent legal skills" and "creative thinking", as well as being "extremely responsive", and having an "astute and methodical approach". 

Ian worked in a senior role as a competition enforcer at the UK Office of Fair Trading in 2008-9, and the insights he gained from this time are particularly valuable in his work.  He is a frequent speaker and media commentator on competition issues, and author of various competition law academic works.  Ian is also a leading member of the UK ICC Competition Group and the City of London Law Society Competition Group. 

Paul is a Principal in RBB’s London office. He has worked extensively on matters before the European Commission, as well as various national competition authorities and courts, including the UK Competition and Markets Authority and Competition Appeal Tribunal.    

Paul has advised on damages litigation, abuse of dominance, and merger cases raising both horizontal and vertical concerns, including Essilor/Luxottica and Comcast/Sky. He has also advised clients, such as Alphabet (Google) and Royal Mail, on investigations of alleged anti-competitive agreements.  Paul regularly writes on a range of competition issues and his publications have featured in leading journals including European Competition Law Review and Management Science. Paul has also contributed to reports for competition authorities including “Cost pass-through: theory, measurement, and potential policy implications” (2014) published by the Office of Fair Trading.

William has extensive experience in a wide range of competition and regulatory matters. He has been involved in a number of major cartel and other behavioural cases, including global antitrust investigations. He has also acted on a number of high-profile merger cases (including at Phase II) before the EU and UK competition authorities. In addition, he has significant experience in the field of competition litigation, including in appeals before the EU and UK courts. He is a member of the Brussels Bar (A list), as well as being qualified as a solicitor (England and Wales).

William is the contributing editor of the Legal 500 cartels guide and has published numerous articles on a wide range of competition matters. William was identified as a ‘Global Elite Thought Leader’ by Who’s Who Legal: Competition (2022). He was shortlisted in the ‘Lawyer of the Year – Under 40’ category in the Global Competition Review awards in 2019 and 2022. 

Becket advises clients on all aspects of EU and UK competition law, with an emphasis on defending companies against investigations, distribution issues and merger control. He is a leading expert on distribution issues raised by e-commerce, including in the context of selective distribution, and has advised leading brands, online retailers, and marketplaces on a wide range of strategic competition issues. Becket also defends companies under investigation by the CMA for consumer law breaches.

Although he advises clients in a broad range of sectors, Becket has a particular interest in the media, technology and life sciences sectors. This interest extends to the growing importance of public interest and foreign investment reviews for these sectors.

Becket studied at the University of Cambridge and has an LL.M. in German civil law from the University of Hamburg.  He speaks fluent German and is a member of the Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht.  Becket has worked in both London and Brussels during his career and is qualified as both an English solicitor and Belgian advocaat.

Becket has experience of enforcing UK and EU competition law at a senior level in the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (now the Competition and Markets Authority) and retains good links with enforcement agencies and regulators in the UK and across the EU.

Becket was previously featured in GCR’s ‘40 under 40’ feature and is listed as a ‘Global Elite Thought Leader’ in the latest Who’s Who Legal directory of leading competition lawyers.

Gregor Langus leads Cornerstone Research’s Brussels competition team. Dr. Langus is a leading European competition economist who supports clients and provides expert testimony in antitrust investigations, merger reviews, competition damages matters, and arbitration proceedings. He has extensive experience in innovation, digital markets, and intellectual property matters, with a focus on information technology markets, online platforms, standard essential patents (SEPs), and copyright issues.

Dr. Langus has worked on matters in multiple jurisdictions, including before the European Commission (EC), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and competition authorities and courts of several European Union member states.

David Little advises clients on many of their most significant and complex UK, EU, and international competition law matters, including merger control, anticompetitive agreements, abuse of dominance, and litigation.

Drawing on more than a decade of experience spanning large-value transactions and sensitive disputes and investigations, David counsels leading global clients on a variety of competition issues, working closely with regulatory authorities around the world to achieve favorable outcomes for clients.

David has advised on competition issues relating to some of the largest and highest-profile transactions in recent years. He handles a range of multi-faceted, cross-border matters, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, investigations, sector inquiries, and foreign investment control reviews. He has experience handling standalone and follow-on litigation claims on behalf of both claimants and defendants. His practice spans industry sectors, with a particular focus on media, technology, financial services, and life sciences.

David offers clients sophisticated insight into navigating various regulatory reviews. David has worked at the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and has appeared before many of the major global antitrust enforcement agencies. He has also appeared before the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, the European Courts in Luxembourg, and the High Court and Court of Appeal in England & Wales.

Fiona Carlin is the head of the EU Competition & Regulatory Affairs practice in Brussels. She is the former Chief Executive of Baker McKenzie’s EMEA Region and the former Chair of the Firm’s Global Competition and Antitrust Law Practice comprising more than 320 lawyers in over 40 countries. She has remained an active practitioner throughout her various leadership roles with a particular focus on regulated industries.

Fiona is also the Chair of the European Advisory Board of Catalyst, a leading non-profit organisation dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and business. She was a founding and long-standing member of Baker McKenzie's Global Diversity & Inclusion Committee and is dedicated to creating an inclusive high performance culture where the talent of our lawyers and business professionals can flourish.

Fiona has been listed in "The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers" every year since 2009. Fiona is recognised as a pre-eminent competition practitioner by Chambers that quotes clients as praising her "legal and pragmatic advice" and describing her as "globally minded".

Fiona advises clients on a wide range of competition law issues, including merger control, the structuring of distribution networks, state aid grants, compliance programs, and the defence of clients involved in competition investigations up to appeal stage before the European Courts in Luxembourg. Her focus is predominantly in the life sciences, consumer goods and industrials segments.

Fiona has a stellar success rate before the European Courts in competition and State aid cases.

Conor Opdebeeck-Wilson’s practice focuses on competition law and regulatory affairs.

Conor – a national of Australia, Canada, and Ireland – assists clients before the European Commission and Courts and in proceedings in European member states.

His industry experience focuses on work with technology firms and financial institutions, including both in the context of global merger reviews and behavioral investigations and litigation. Conor also has considerable experience advising on developing competition compliance frameworks to comply with enforcement and regulatory requirements in the technology sector and beyond.

Buddy supports legal and compliance professionals handle various matters including investigations, litigation, arbitration, DSARs, compliance audits, competition/antitrust matters (merger control, cartel investigations, internal investigations), cyber breach incident responses.

Lisa has worked in Monitoring Trustee Services for over 8 years. Lisa has extensive experience working with regulatory authorities in Europe, and the UK as well as with global companies in multijurisdictional mergers.

Lisa works on a variety of cases across a wide breadth of industry sectors including both structural and behavioural remedies. Lisa has a clear focus on monitoring long term behavioural commitments and hold separates, with reference to the engagement of artificial intelligence and technical ring fencing measures in order to monitor information sharing processes and ensure compliance with long term commitments through the employment of technical measures.

Niklas is a partner in Weil’s Antitrust practice and leads the Firm’s Brussels office. He has advised on some of the most high-profile and complex M&A transactions of the past decade, represented corporations on a wide range of behavioural antitrust matters, and acted as lead counsel on antitrust-related litigation and arbitration cases. He routinely represents clients before the European Commission, EU Member States’ competition/foreign investment authorities, and other key regulators globally.

Niklas has been a driving force behind the antitrust group’s ranking in the top ten of GCR’s 2024 Global Elite: Mergers “thanks to rapidly growing competition teams in Brussels”, “excelling in merger control matters”, and boasting “an impressive list of Big Tech clients”. He is recognised as a “Rising Star” in competition by Legal 500 EMEA, as a “Rising Star” in Legal Media Group’s Expert Guides for Competition and Antitrust, and as a “Notable Practitioner” for competition by IFLR.

Ross Ferguson advises clients on all aspects of EU and U.K. merger control and antitrust regulation, including complex cross-border transactions, antitrust investigations and foreign direct investment reviews. He has extensive antitrust experience in a multitude of industries, including in financial services, infrastructure and technology and telecommunications.

Ross has been recognised in Who’s Who Legal Future Leaders as “an excellent competition lawyer. He is efficient and reactive. It is a pleasure working with him.”

Rikki Haria is a partner in the Antitrust, Competition and Trade group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.

His practice spans the full range of competition law matters, including merger control and foreign investment reviews, antitrust investigations and market inquiries.

As a member of the firm’s global tech practice and having spent time working in Silicon Valley, Rikki advises a broad range of tech and digital platform businesses, including on merger reviews, regulatory investigations, and the interplay between antitrust, data privacy and consumer protection laws. He also has a particular focus on the telecoms, financial services, retail and consumer products sectors, having advised on various mergers, market studies and market investigations in these sectors.

Rikki helps clients to navigate complex regulatory environments, including behavioural investigations, new digital regulation (such as the EU Digital Markets Act and forthcoming UK regulatory regime) and new and emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence and the metaverse). He also regularly advises on high-profile and cross-border M&A, managing the process of securing merger control and foreign investment clearances around the world. Notable examples include Adobe/Figma, MasMovil/Orange, Tesco/Booker and Apollo/Verizon.

Rikki has extensive experience before the CMA and European Commission, including through his time on secondment to the CMA’s mergers unit.

Davina Garrod is recognized by Legal 500 for her “encyclopedic understanding of competition and merger control laws” and her “in-depth understanding of the regulatory landscape in markets.” She advises multinationals, corporates, financial institutions and trade associations on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances and restructurings.

With more than 24 years’ experience, in addition to conducting multijurisdictional merger control analyses, navigating and obtaining antitrust and regulatory approvals for complex transactions within and outside of the EU, and negotiating remedies packages, Davina represents leading sovereign wealth funds, private equity (PE) firms, global institutional asset managers and banks in the context of their strategic and financial investments (transactional and contentious).

During her secondment to a global financial institution, Davina led on antitrust and regulatory investigations. She has worked in Washington, D.C., where she represented technology, defence, shipping and pharmaceutical/life sciences companies on significant strategic transactions, produced an econometric study in the context of parallel United States/EU antitrust litigation and participated in International Competition Network merger control projects. She has also worked in Brussels and has been seconded to the UK communications regulator, where she worked on merger investigations and wrote the government’s study into digital TV and analogue switch-over.

Chambers UK commends Ms. Garrod for expressing “complex analysis in a commercial manner” for being “very knowledgeable and efficient” and “good at coordinating large amounts of data.” She is highlighted as an “excellent choice for clients.”

Matthew Sinclair-Thomson is a partner in the Antitrust and Competition Team based in London. He advises on a wide range of issues under the EU and UK competition law regimes, including merger control, foreign investment review, antitrust advisory work, cartel investigations and competition law compliance. Matthew frequently leads the coordination of merger control and foreign investment review processes for high-profile, cross-border transactions.

Matthew also has experience dealing with competition issues in regulated industries, in particular telecoms and financial services and Matthew regularly publishes UK competition law updates in the Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law.

Matthew has been recognised by Global Competition Review Foreign Investment Control in its “40 Under 40” list (2023) and named by Who’s Who Legal as a “Global Elite Thought Leader” for Competition Law (in December 2023) as well as a “Future Leader” (2021, 2022 and 2023) recognised for his “vast understanding of the M&A regulatory regimes in several jurisdictions,” his “thoughtful and commercial approach” and for being “a real pleasure to work alongside.”

Ronan is Of Counsel at Arthur Cox and a member of the Competition and Regulated Markets Group. His practice covers the full range of EU and Irish competition and telecoms law.

Ronan has 15 years experience of Antitrust and Competition Law, Policy and Practice, with a focus on merger control, abuse of dominance, antitrust investigations and litigation. He has previously served at a senior level in the Competition and Markets Authority in London, during which time he led high-profile merger investigations (with a focus on the telecoms space) and dawn raids on behalf of that authority (in the pharmaceutical and medical sectors).

During his time with the CMA, he was also seconded to the Irish Competition Agency (the ‘CCPC’) and worked closely with the European Commission on both merger and antitrust investigations. His international experience of competition law, enforcement and capability building includes time in China (working with Mofcom, the Competition Regulator) and on secondment to a law firm in India. Prior to joining Arthur Cox in 2022, Ronan worked at another Irish law firm, where he brought regulatory appeals in the Irish High Court on behalf of both Three Ireland and Sky Ireland.

He holds a Masters Degree from King’s College London in EU Competition Law and, since 2020, has been named as a ‘Rising Star’ in the Legal 500.

Leonidas Theodosiou advises on antitrust, foreign direct investment (FDI), and regulatory matters, having practiced in London and Brussels for more than a decade. He is highly recommended by leading directories in the “EU and Competition” and “Competition Litigation” categories, and has been identified by The Legal 500 as one of the UK’s leading “Next Generation Partners” in the area of competition law. Leo is also recognized by Global Competition Review as one of the world’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40 in FDI regulation. Clients have praised his “extensive international capabilities” and described him as “extremely skilled and responsive.”  Leo is one of few lawyers globally who are fully qualified to practice law in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States.

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.

Julie Bon is the Deputy Chief Economic Adviser at the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). She is responsible for the quality and standard of economic advice in the CMA’s competition investigations (mergers, markets and antitrust).

Prior to this, Julie was a Director of Economics at the CMA, where she led the economics on many merger and market investigations.

She holds a PhD in Economics from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

Monica Hilseth-Hartwig serves as competition counsel at Norsk Hydro, a global aluminum and energy company based in Norway.

Acknowledged in the GCR 2023 Corporate Counsel Survey, Monica brings extensive expertise in competition law, also drawing from ten years of experience gained at a top tier Norwegian law firm.   

Oliver Latham has worked on digital mergers including Amazon/Deliveroo, Amazon/iRobot, Microsoft/LinkedIn, Microsoft/GitHub, Microsoft/ZeniMax, Microsoft/Xandr, Microsoft/Nuance, PayPal/iZettle, PayPal/Honey, Taboola/Outbrain, Visa/Plaid, Visa/Tink, Uber/Yandex, Uber/Grab, Uber/Careem, Uber/Postmates and Uber/Cornershop). His antitrust and regulatory work includes providing economic analysis to Amazon, Microsoft, ByteDance and Visa and he has also advised complainants in relation to the Google Android, Shopping and Ad Tech cases. He also works on antitrust litigation including on claims brought against Google and Meta. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and has published on economic issues in outlets including the Economic Journal, Competition Policy International, European Competition Journal and Sunday Times

Georgios Yannouchos is Counsel in Clifford Chance's Competition Practice in Brussels.

With over 10 years of experience, he advises clients on all areas of competition, trade and EU law with a particular focus on foreign subsidies regulation, EU state aid and EU / multi-jurisdictional merger control before the European Commission, the national competition authorities and the EU Court in Luxembourg. Client have praised his "correct judgement, analytical skills, creativity, perseverance and commitment."

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”.

Victoria is a partner in the Antitrust & Competition group in BCLP's London office. Prior to joining BCLP, Victoria was competition counsel at Bloomberg, responsible for providing support on competition law matters globally.

Victoria has a wealth of contentious and non-contentious antitrust experience, and advises on merger control, complex behavioural investigations, and antitrust counselling. She has represented clients on some of the most high profile cases before the European Commission, Competition & Markets Authority, Financial Conduct Authority and other national competition agencies around the world. She has particular experience in the technology, financial services and retail sectors, and regularly advises on the interplay between competition law and regulation.

Victoria is recognised as a ‘Next Generation Partner’ in competition law by Legal 500 UK.

Pablo is a legal secretary (Referendaire) at the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg, where has has worked in the cabinets of Judges S. Frimodt Nielsen and Tomljenovic.

Pablo's work focuses on compeition, state aid, banking union, access to documents, IP and pharmaceutical products.

Prior to this, Pablo was Senior Legal Counsel at Johnson & Johnson, based in Brussels, advising J&J's consumer business in EMEA on competition, compliance and trade sanctions, commercial law, litigation, advertising, marketing of OTC medicines and logistics.

Pablo started his career in 2000 as an associate at Skadden's Brussels office, where he advised multinational companies on competition law, with particular focus on antritrust merger control.

Pablo holds LLM degrees from Columbia University, the College of Europe (Brussels) and the University of Kent at Cantebury.

Paul Gilbert’s practice focuses on EU and UK competition law, including merger control, anticompetitive agreements, abuse of dominance, and sectoral regulation.

He has represented clients before the European Commission, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (and its predecessors, the Office of Fair Trading and Competition Commission), as well as in litigation before the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal.

Paul joined the firm in 2011, became counsel in 2015, and became a partner in 2021. Before joining the firm, he was Deputy Director of Competition Policy at the UK Office of Fair Trading.