Competition Law - UK
What the team is known for
Latham & Watkins is particularly known for advising on the competition law aspects of corporate transactions, assisting clients with foreign direct investment notifications and with phase II investigations before the CMA. The London office often collaborates with the firm's highly regarded offices in other jurisdictions to assist with the competition law clearance of multi-jurisdictional mergers. In addition the team has experience in behavioural investigations before the CMA. The firm has expanded its bench with the hire of the highly regarded Simon Pritchard in the spring of 2023.
Strengths
"The firm provides a high level of responsiveness and attention to client needs."
"Our work together really feels like a shared endeavour, rather than client instruction and lawyer execution. This makes the day-to-day experience much more enjoyable and effective."
"The team provides sound advice, and has the ability to speed up the process and good relations with stakeholders."
"It is an excellent team encompassing a broad range of levels of experience."
Work highlights
Latham & Watkins represented Meta before the CAT in an appeal against the CMA's decision to prohibit the merger between Meta and GIPHY.
Notable practitioners
Simon Pritchard stands out for his experience advising clients on CMA merger clearance reviews and investigations into possible anti-competitive behaviour. He joined Latham & Watkins in the spring of 2023. "Simon Pritchard is someone I really like as a person and he has great CMA merger control experience." "He is a first-class competition lawyer. Intellectually he is very impressive." "He was so strong, clear, insightful and practical." "Simon is an exceptional lawyer who is not only extremely accomplished in a very technical area of law but is very passionate about his clients - he makes you feel like your business concerns matter as much to him as they do to you." "It is always a pleasure to work with him, no matter how stressful the matter."
Jonathan Parker is particularly active in merger clearance mandates, including representing clients in phase II investigations before the CMA. In addition to his strength in merger notification reviews, he also advises clients on CMA investigations into possible breaches of competition law. "He expresses himself clearly, which I like." "He gives the most insight into the process and if we have something tricky, he can guide us through."
