Matheson LLP
Matheson LLP has a fully rounded EU and competition practice, driven by a fervent pipeline of merger control matters, competition investigations, state aid cases, and competition litigation, including the headline trucks case. The team has worked on a series of Phase 2 merger assessments by the CCPC and is especially noted for media sector merger cases. It has landed key roles in all recent CCPC market investigations, including motor insurance, ticketing and fuel price. The team features three experienced partners including department head Niall Collins, an experienced figure in merger control, having practised in both London and Dublin. Kate McKenna and Calum Warren are also highly rated partners, with extensive experience in and outside Ireland. Simon Shinkwin is a rising star.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Excellent alignment with in-house team with sound practical advice. In-depth knowledge of the regulator. Excellent response times and availability. Very good to deal with. ’
‘Kate McKenna is excellent. Knowledge is excellent, but also applies it in a very practical way that can be applied within the business. Calum Warren is excellent, with very timely turnarounds on advice. Gives sound, workable solutions.’
- ‘Niall Collins is the leading antitrust lawyer in Ireland at the moment. Clients really like him, he is easy to work with and very knowledgeable of the Irish regime. Calum Warren is a rising star in the team, he is a very solid pair of hands for Irish merger control matters.’
‘Niall Collins is an excellent competition partner. He provides commercial and pragmatic advice and takes initiative in anticipating client needs.'
- 'Simon Shinkwin is an exceptional associate who is thorough, responsive and a pleasure to work with.’
‘The Matheson team has a strong reputation for antitrust matters and is also now providing good advice relating to the imminent Irish foreign investment screening regime. They are our go-to firm for advice on these matters. Other Irish law firms don't offer the same bench strength or international perspectives in these matters.’
- ‘Calum Warren has worked in Brussels, the UK and Dublin, all in the top competition firms and within the European Commission and his breadth of experience is exceptional. I have seen him engage with competition enforcers in the UK, Ireland and from the European Commission and he is highly respected. Kate McKenna and Niall Collins are also excellent.’
‘Over the last several years Matheson has invested in the next generation of top-tier competition lawyers and their practice is now the gold standard, handling the most critical and complex cases in Ireland. It's a diverse team with unmatched contacts with enforcers across Europe.'
Key clients
- Bauer Media Group
- Blackrock Health
- CLdN CARGO Ireland
- Gilead
- Grain Management
- Insurance Ireland
- Le Creuset
- Macquarie
- MTM Packaging
- Smurfit Kappa Group
- Ticketmaster
- Adevinta
- AMP Capital
- Bank of Ireland
- Three Ireland (and its parent CK Hutchison)
- Link Group
- Parma Investments Limited, and its parent Goodman Group
- Daily Mail / DMGT plc
- Discovery
- Enterprise Ireland
- ASL Aviation
- Brokers Ireland
- Orpea S.A
- Ornua
- Speed Fibre Group (enet, Airspeed and Magnet) and its parent AMP Capital
- SSE
- Irish Distillers and its parent, Pernod Ricard
- AIB
- An Post
- Fexco
- Abtran
- Aramark
- Bord Na Mona
- Boskalis
- College Proteins
- Commercial Mushrooms Producers Co-Operative Society (CMP)
- Carr Communications
- Chapel Gate
- Commscope
- Discovery
- Department for Energy
- daa plc
- Disney
- Energia
- FitBit
- Top Oil
- JPI Media plc
- Microsoft
- Monument Re
- Monaghan Mushrooms
- Newsbrands
- Nicholl (Fuel Oils) Ltd
- Nomad Foods
- Oaktree
- Opel
- Post Office Limited
- Saint Gobain
- Sky Ireland
- Sport Ireland
- TINE
- TripActions
- Irish Life
- Waystone (Ireland) Ltd
- Iveco SpA
- Linnaeus Veterinary Ireland Ltd
- Vermilion Energy Inc
- Vodafone Ireland Ltd
- Worldwide Flight Services (WFS)
- Carne Global Financial Services Ltd
- Royal Bank of Canada
- Supersapiens
- Shares.io
- Alibaba.com
- Aer-Rianta International cpt
- Fresenius Medical Care (Ireland) Ltd
- Wellster Healthtech Group GmbH
Work highlights
- Advised Bank of Ireland on its acquisition of the Irish assets of the Belgian bank KBC, which is leaving the Irish market.
- Advised Bauer Media Audio, Europe’s leading commercial radio and audio operator and part of Europe's largest privately owned media conglomerate Bauer Media Group, on a series of acquisitions in the media sector to extend its leading position in Ireland.
- Advised daa plc on several complex regulatory issues, including an ongoing High Court litigation against the regulator, Aer Lingus and Ryanair regarding airport charges.
Lawyers
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Rising stars
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Matheson LLP
Calum Warren is a partner in the Competition and Regulation Group. Prior to joining Matheson, Calum worked at leading international law firms in Brussels and London. Calum advises on all aspects of Irish and EU competition and regulatory law including merger control, competition compliance and investigations, sector regulation, public procurement, state aid and general EU law. Calum has also gained in-depth experience in a range of sectors including financial services, telecommunications and media (TMT), agri-business, energy, manufacturing, healthcare, food & beverages and transport. Calum specialises in advising on and managing clearance strategies for M&A transactions before the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) and the European Commission, including transactions subject to in-depth Phase 2 investigations and remedies negotiations. His previous roles in Brussels and London also enable Calum to bring considerable multi-jurisdictional perspective to his advice. Calum also specialises in managing competition investigations before the CCPC and the European Commission, including representation during on-site inspections (‘dawn raids’), whistle-blower applications and follow-on litigation before the Irish and EU courts. Calum also has significant expertise in advising on competition compliance issues, including competitor collaborations, the competition aspects of distribution arrangements and technology transfer / IP arrangements and internal compliance programmes (including ‘dawn raid’ preparedness). Calum contributes articles to leading international legal publications and speaks regularly on EU competition issues.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Niall Collins