Europe - Ireland

Arthur Cox

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Arthur Cox is building its standing in the EU and competition market, particularly in the merger control space. It has a further strong presence in investigations, including those into the motor insurance and event ticketing industries, along with competition litigation, especially follow-on damage actions. Moreover, it has an established reputation in the state aid field. The team has a breadth of sectoral knowledge, most notably in the financial services area. Richard Ryan, who leads the competition and regulated markets group, continues to win accolades for his work in investigations, merger control and state aid. Patrick Horan is another prominent figure in merger control, market studies and follow-on damages actions. Of counsel Ronan Scanlan and senior associate Simon Breen are also key members of the team.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Arthur Cox is a standout team in the competition law market in Dublin. They are excellent. We have used them on a number of matters across a wide range of areas. They are professional, efficient and very easy to deal with. ’

  • ‘Patrick is one of the leading practitioners in the Irish market. Simon is excellent and very effective. ’

  • ‘The AC Competition Team has a good understanding of the business and is readily available as needed.’

  • ‘Overall a good rounded team. A "steady pair of hands".’

  • ‘Richard Ryan is both clever and sensible and knows when an issue is likely to cause significant problems.’

  • ‘They are very bright and capable, and their advice is always well-considered.’

  • ‘Richard Ryan is excellent. You always know he is prepared, has thought about his advice, and is practical.’

Key clients

  • Permanent TSB
  • Sector Alarm Group
  • InfraVia Capital Partners
  • Allianz plc
  • CRH plc
  • Irish Cement Limited
  • Roadstone Limited
  • Flutter Entertainment plc
  • KBC Group N.V.
  • Kerry Group plc
  • AstraZeneca plc
  • Orsted
  • Gilead Sciences
  • Ryanair
  • Land Development Agency
  • Intel
  • Stripe
  • Davy
  • Greencore Group plc
  • Greenergy International
  • LN-Gaiety Holdings
  • Allied Irish Banks plc
  • Department of Finance
  • National Treasury Management Agency
  • Mediahuis N.V. and Mediahuis Ireland
  • Insurance Ireland
  • Applegreen
  • Accenture
  • Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation
  • MCD Productions
  • Volvo and Renault Trucks
  • Glanbia plc
  • Dole plc
  • Brookfield
  • National Broadband Ireland
  • Bank of Ireland
  • Verizon Communications, Inc.
  • The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
  • Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company
  • Johnson Controls International plc
  • Kennedy Wilson
  • Dawn Meats
  • Compass Group plc
  • DFDS A/S
  • John Laing Group

Work highlights

  • Advised Flutter on its €1.9bn acquisition of Sisal, a betting, gaming and lottery operator primarily active in Italy.
  • Represented Ryanair in various High Court proceedings against Skyscanner, Vola.ro, Ypsilon.net, Flightbox, and Booking.com for alleged involvement in screen scraping activities concerning Ryanair’s website and offering Ryanair products or services for sale outside of Ryanair’s website.
  • Advised John Laing Group on its €1bn acquisition of a portfolio of assets comprising Towercom, the Dublin Convention Centre and Valley Healthcare from AMP Capital.

Lawyers

Rising stars

Ronan Scanlan

Ronan Scanlan

Arthur Cox

Ronan is Of Counsel at Arthur Cox and a member of the Competition and Regulated Markets Group. His practice covers the full range of EU and Irish competition and telecoms law. Ronan has 15 years experience of Antitrust and Competition Law, Policy and Practice, with a focus on merger control, abuse of dominance, antitrust investigations and litigation. He has previously served at a senior level in the Competition and Markets Authority in London, during which time he led high-profile merger investigations (with a focus on the telecoms space) and dawn raids on behalf of that authority (in the pharmaceutical and medical sectors). During his time with the CMA, he was also seconded to the Irish Competition Agency (the ‘CCPC’) and worked closely with the European Commission on both merger and antitrust investigations. His international experience of competition law, enforcement and capability building includes time in China (working with Mofcom, the Competition Regulator) and on secondment to a law firm in India. Prior to joining Arthur Cox in 2022, Ronan worked at another Irish law firm, where he brought regulatory appeals in the Irish High Court on behalf of both Three Ireland and Sky Ireland. He holds a Masters Degree from King’s College London in EU Competition Law and, since 2020, has been named as a ‘Rising Star’ in the Legal 500.

Leading individuals

Richard Ryan

Arthur Cox

Richard is Head of the Competition and Regulated Markets Group. He is admitted to practice in Ireland and New York. He advises on all aspects of EU and Irish competition / antitrust law including investigations and dawn raids by the European Commission and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission of Ireland (CCPC), competition litigation, merger control, competition aspects of commercial agreements and behaviour, EU State aid law, competition compliance programmes, leniency applications, complaints and sectoral studies by regulators. He has been involved in a large proportion of the leading antitrust, merger control, and State aid cases in Ireland over many years.

Next Generation Partners

Patrick Horan

Arthur Cox

Patrick is a partner in the Competition and Regulated Markets Group. His practice covers the full range of EU and Irish competition law.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Richard Ryan

Other key lawyers

Patrick Horan, Ronan Scanlan, Simon Breen