Competition

Fountain Court members are instructed in high-profile and high-value competition disputes and to advise on competition issues including in relation to investigations.

Our excellent reputation for top-quality advocacy, particularly in large-scale litigation involving multiple parties and various jurisdictions, has resulted in members playing a central role in a significant number of follow-on actions arising from cartel or similar decisions. We have particular experience  in industry areas such as aviation and travel, banking, financial services and technology.

For example, our members have advised in many long-running competition matters including in relation to FX, LIBOR and bank charges as well as in other sectors such as technology and travel. Our members have also acted in many cases for the Civil Aviation Authority and major airlines in competition cases, including in relation to the state protection of non-profitable air routes and in the context of mergers.

We have also been asked to advise in the context of behavioural antitrust investigations by both the Competition and Markets Authority and the European Commission, on questions of both UK and EU law.

Our expertise also extends to other areas of competition law, including state aid and subsidies (where our members have advised both public authorities and private recipients of aid) and public procurement (for example, in the challenge to London Underground’s decision to award a £1.5 billion contract to Siemens for the manufacture of new underground trains).

Several of our current and former members have held, or currently hold, prominent positions with key bodies in the competition space, including the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Justice of the European Communities, and the competition law section of Canada’s Federal Department of Justice.

Our work includes cases relating to:

• Advisory work relating to investigations into allegedly anti-competitive behaviour
• Follow-on claims based on findings of anti-competitive behaviour
• Standalone and other commercial claims relating to breaches of competition law