Sophie Lawrance
UK Guide 2025
Band 2 : Competition Law: Litigation
Email address
[email protected]Contact number
020 7400 8000Share profile
Band 2
About
Provided by Sophie Lawrance
Practice Areas
Sophie specialises in EU and UK competition law and litigation. She has a particular interest in working with businesses in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors, and in relation to the competition issues that arise in connection with standardised technology. Her practice spans all competition issues, but has a particular focus on litigation and investigations.
Sophie has significant experience of competition litigation in the UK courts. She has been involved both in pure competition law actions, acting for both claimants and defendants, and in several substantial pieces of patent litigation in which competition defences have been raised. Sophie has market-leading experience of cases involving FRAND licensing obligations, acting for both implementers and patentees. Alongside this, Sophie’s case load to date has included defending applications for interim injunctive relief, handling mixed stand-alone/follow-on damages claims, raising and defending competition issues arising from the seeking of remedies in IP cases and claims arising from IP licences.
Some of Sophie’s recent experience includes:
- Acting for Google in long-running private damages litigation.
- Acting for Panasonic in UK litigation seek a FRAND licence.
- Successfully defended Morningside Pharmaceuticals from the dawn raid onwards in a four-year CMA investigation.
Alongside her litigation case-load, Sophie handles competition authority investigations at both EU and national level, including in dawn raid situations. A recent focus has been on CMA investigations into the UK generics sector. 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.
Sophie is Vice Chair (Competition) of the Competition Law Association (CLA) Committee. She regularly contributes feedback on competition policy issues, as well as speaking at conferences and writing on competition law issues in journals and blogs. She also teaches the competition law module on the University of Oxford Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice course.
Career
MA French and German
University of Cambridge · PhD German Literature, University of Cambridge
Postgraduate Diploma in Competition Law, KCL
Qualified 2004
Partner 2016
Admitted in Republic of Ireland (non-practising)
Advocaat bij de Balie te Brussel
Publications
Biotech Review of the Year
Chambers Review
UK
Sophie Lawrance defends high-profile clients against allegations of abuse of dominance. She also has experience acting for interested third parties on appeals against authority decisions. She has a number of clients from the technology and pharmaceutical sectors.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"She is a very knowledgeable lawyer who has detailed analytical thinking. You know that she will think about any question you ask in a thorough and precise way which gives me a lot of comfort."
"She asks the right questions and challenges them at the right time. She is very pleasant to work with and, importantly, she is also someone with whom you can have an open conversation about anything."
"She is highly competent in competition matters and is detail-oriented."
"Sophie Lawrance is really sharp, picks up issues quickly and is very experienced. Her advice is pragmatic and to the point but she thinks through issues."
"She is kind, patient and puts a lot of effort into these cases which is greatly appreciated."
"She is a very knowledgeable lawyer who has detailed analytical thinking. You know that she will think about any question you ask in a thorough and precise way which gives me a lot of comfort."
"She asks the right questions and challenges them at the right time. She is very pleasant to work with and, importantly, she is also someone with whom you can have an open conversation about anything."
"She is highly competent in competition matters and is detail-oriented."
"Sophie Lawrance is really sharp, picks up issues quickly and is very experienced. Her advice is pragmatic and to the point but she thinks through issues."
"She is kind, patient and puts a lot of effort into these cases which is greatly appreciated."