Competition

In recent years, members of Blackstone Chambers have been at the forefront of the most high-profile collective proceedings conducted in the Competition Appeal Tribunal and appellate courts, acting for both claimants and defendants in, for example, Gutmann v Apple, the VISA Interchange Fee Proceedings, O’Higgins FX, Kent v Apple, and Merricks v Mastercard.

Blackstone Chambers also possesses unrivalled strength in depth in merger cases and regulatory appeals, where it combines its unique expertise across public law, EU law and commercial competition litigation. Members of chambers also regularly appear for private parties and sectoral regulators such as Ofgem, Ofcom, Ofwat, and the CAA. By way of example, members of Blackstone Chambers recently acted for both Activision and the CMA in relation to the Microsoft/Activision merger, before the CJEU in CK Telecoms (Case C-376/20), and in the novel Dye & Durham Ltd merger claim ([2023] CAT 46). Members of chambers also represented the CAA in the first ever statutory appeal against one of its decisions to the CMA concerning its H7 Determination, and represented all parties in the CAT appeal between CityFibre and Ofcom [2022] CAT 33.

Members of Blackstone Chambers also frequently advise on and appear in international competition litigation, from English claims alleging breaches of foreign competition laws (e.g. Viegas v Cutrale [2021] EWHC 2956 (Comm)) to claims based in jurisdictions from Ireland to Hong Kong.