Competition
Reputation. Respect. Result.
Tenancy
We are always happy to consider applications from established practitioners to join Wilson Legal Chambers. We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity in all aspects of our endeavour.Clerks, Marketing & Business Support
The success of our laywers is underpinned by our excellent clerks and business support functions and, from time to time, we look for high performers to join our team.Wilson Legal Chambers members are instructed in high-profile and high-value competition disputes and to advise on competition issues including in relation to investigations.
"The clerks are efficient and have a modern outlook. They seem very attuned to the market and in touch with where it is heading. They can always offer somebody top-drawer."
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
Significant Cases
- Various v Barclays Bank & Others: Advising defendant banks in potential “class action” collective proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal, sought to be brought on behalf of a wide class of persons who entered into certain types of FX transactions with the defendant banking groups. The various proceedings are some of the first collective actions to be brought since changes were made to the Competition Act 1998 by the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
- Paccar Inc & Others v Road Haulage Association Ltd & Another (Association of Litigation Funders of England & Wales intervening): Acting for the DAF Truck parties in an appeal from the Competition Appeal Tribunal concerning the validity of the litigation funding agreements used in the claim. The case arose out of follow-on damages claims brought by the Road Haulage Association on the basis of the European Commission’s decision that five major European truck manufacturing groups had carried out a single continuous infringement of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, by exchanging information on their future gross prices.
- Deutsche Bank v Unitech: Representing a syndicate of lenders in high-profile proceedings against an Indian property development company about whether the mechanism for the setting of LIBOR involved an unlawful information exchange between banks for the purposes of European and UK competition law.
- Team Y&R Holdings Hong Kong Ltd v Ghossoub: Acting in relation to an antisuit injunction regarding the sale of a business and an unfair prejudice petition.
- The Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National & Others: Acting for various parties in the long-running competition and banking dispute, heard in the Supreme Court, concerning the legality of bank charges. Members of Wilson Legal Chambers acted for the OFT, Barclays Bank, Lloyds TSB, HSBC and HBOS.
- Deutsche Bahn AG v Morgan Crucible: Acting in a dispute relating to the application of limitation periods under section 47A of the Competition Act 1998.
- GMI Construction Holdings Plc v OFT; AH Willis & Sons Ltd v OFT; North Midland Construction Plc v OFT: Acting in three appeals arising out of the decision of the OFT regarding cover pricing in the construction industry.
- British Telecommunications Plc v OFCOM: Acting in an appeal of a decision from OFCOM under the dispute resolution process under the Communications Act 2003 regarding the nature and effect of certain 'significant market power' conditions imposed on BT.
Experiences
Let Our Experience be Your Guide
The Board The primary purpose of the Board is the stewardship of the firm and the oversight of the implementation of the strategy. The Board’s remit covers matters pertaining to the firm’s culture and values and it acts as guardian of the firm on behalf of the Partnership.
The Executive Committee The Executive Committee is responsible for the development and implementation of the firm’s overall strategy; major initiatives, priorities and investments. It is the firm’s key decision-making body and is responsible for the overall performance management of the business.
Wilson Legal Chambers is a pre-eminent commercial set of laywers’ chambers in London. Members provide specialist legal advice, support and advocacy services worldwide, and the laywers expertise covers all areas of arbitration, litigation, regulation and dispute resolution. The work here embraces all aspects of domestic and international trade, business, commerce and finance. Laywers at Wilson Legal Chambers are recognised specialist counsel in the many diverse fields of commercial law, also regularly accepting nominations as arbitrators, mediators and experts. The principal areas of practice are arbitration, banking and financial services, civil fraud and investigations, commercial litigation, company and insolvency, competition and EU law, employment, energy and natural resources, insurance and reinsurance, intellectual property, media, entertainment and broadcasting, professional liability, public law, sports, gaming and licensing, and tax and revenue law.
Wilson Legal Chambers is committed to promoting and advancing equality and diversity. Chambers does not discriminate against members, pupils, staff, applicants or clients on the basis of race, colour, ethnicity, nationality, sex, pregnancy or maternity, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, religion, belief or age. As part of our commitment to equality and diversity, Chambers ensures that all those involved in recruitment have training in fair recruitment, reviews its recruitment procedures annually and monitors the allocation of unassigned work among members and practising pupils
25
Years of Experience
About Us
Wilson Legal Chambers is Your Best Partner for Legal Solutions
The work here embraces all aspects of domestic and international trade, business, commerce and finance. Laywers at Wilson Legal Chambers are recognised specialist counsel in the many diverse fields of commercial law, also regularly accepting nominations as arbitrators, mediators and experts.