gunnercooke LLP

Competition

Angela is a Principal Associate based in our Manchester office specialising in all areas of competition law. Having trained, qualified and worked at City firms in London for 10 years prior to transferring to the Shoosmiths Manchester office, Angela has a depth of experience in competition law which is rarely found outside of London.

Angela has successfully represented clients in a number of competition law investigations conducted by the Competition and Markets Authority and the European Commission under Chapters 1 and 2 Competition Act 1998/Articles 101/102 TFEU.

Angela persuaded the CMA to drop its investigation into a household name client in relation to an Airport Facilities case in just 6 weeks (related investigations continued into other investigated parties and the CMA recently imposed fines of £1.6 million on Heathrow Airport Limited in a related investigation).

Other notable successes have included securing a 90% discount on fine in a recent CMA market sharing case relating to Cleanroom Laundries. In addition, Angela successfully persuaded the CMA that there were no grounds for action on behalf of the supplier investigated party in the Sports Bras resale price maintenance investigation, following the issue of Statement of Objections in the case (with the eminent competition law QC instructed to assist with the oral hearing describing Angela’s written response to the SO as “outstanding”).

Colleagues note Angela’s exceptional “brain power”, and clients have praised her for her "solid advice on tactics", which she combines with her detailed knowledge of the available forensics tools to enable her to successfully defend clients in competition law investigations.

As well as defending clients in investigations, Angela advises clients on preparing and submitting leniency applications in order to secure immunity from penalties through the CMA and European Commission leniency programmes.

Angela regularly works with clients to develop and deliver effective and engaging competition compliance training programmes, drawing on her experience of defending clients in investigations to really bring competition law training to life.

Angela also has broad experience in obtaining multi-jurisdictional merger clearances, including clearances from the European Commission and the CMA in relation to major deals.

Further examples of Angela’s experience include:

• advising a well-known consumer brand in relation to a leniency application to the CMA. Including forensic review of email evidence to ascertain the scope of infringing conduct and in order to support the leniency application.
• advising an investigated party in the Airport Facilities investigation.
• advising Micronclean Limited in the Cleanroom Laundries investigation.
• advising DB Apparel in the Sports Bras resale price maintenance investigation.
• advising a container liner company in a European Commission cartel investigation.
• advising an automotive components manufacturer in a European Commission cartel investigation.
• advising a household name sporting goods retailer in parallel investigations by the Competition Commission, Office of Fair Trading and Serious Fraud Office, including the first-ever application to the OFT’s Procedural Adjudicator.
• advising a car carrier in a European Commission cartel investigation concerning allegations of bid rigging.
• carrying out competition law audits for various household name clients.
• designing and delivering competition law compliance training for various household name clients.

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Angela trained and qualified at Berwin Leighton Paisner and then worked at Reed Smith, before joining Shoosmiths