Lauded for its ‘deep knowledge’ and ‘high level of legal advice and strategic guidance’, the competition team at Ashurst works with clients across the full suite of competition and regulatory issues, regularly advising on significant mergers and cartel investigations. Head of the London Antitrust team Duncan Liddell remains active on high-profile contentious and non-contentious competition matters, both in the UK and across the EU. Euan Burrows is noted for his strategic advice, while Nigel Parr, chair of the firm’s global antitrust practice, stands out for his work on leading contentious and non-contentious matters in the UK and Brussels. Neil Cuninghame draws considerable praise from clients for his ability to provide ’clear and pragmatic advice’, while Steven Vaz‘s practice covers multijurisdictional merger control and foreign investment control and leading behavioural cases.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • Very thorough and detailed. No stone is left unturned. You are in safe hands with the Ashurst team.'

  • 'Neil Cuninghame provides very through and detailed assessment on all the advice he delivers. He is technically concrete.'

  • 'Danica Barley is an excellent and widely experienced senior associate, who provide an exemplary balance between techinal legal skills and commercial pragmatism.'

  • ‘Strong team of experienced lawyers with deep knowledge of the sector and providing accurate, sharp and high level of legal advice and strategic guidance on all cases.'

  • ‘Neil Cuninghame and Adelle Elhosni are excellent lawyers with deep understanding of our sector and business. They manage complex merger filings and provide tactical options when facing a challenge. ’

  • ‘Neil Cuninghame provided clear and pragmatic advice that was easily understandable to his non-legal clients. He focussed on the material issues and didn't side line us with hypotheticals. He and his team worked around our changing timescales and provided the information when we needed it.’

  • ‘Neil Cuninghame has provided crystal clear, no-nonsense advice which has helped to provide a solid basis for commercial decision makers to assess risk and find a practical and mutually beneficial way forward.'

  • 'Natasha Gromof has very ably assisted us in providing timely advice in a personable way, has stepped up well when necessary and has dealt with everything that has been thrown at her with an unflappable manner.'

Key clients

  • Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited
  • Equitix
  • Bank of America
  • Application Developers Alliance
  • Circle Health
  • Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)
  • Valero
  • FIFA
  • VMO2

Work highlights

  • Advised Morrisons in connection with the CMA's market study into the supply of road fuel in the UK. The CMA published its final report in July 2023 and Ashurst is continuing to advise Morrisons in relation to the implementation of the CMA's recommendations.
  • Advised Equitix in relation to the merger between two UK smart metering businesses, MapleCo and Calisen.
  • Advising Circle Healthcare in relation to the merger control aspects of its acquisition of BMI Healthcare.

Lawyers

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Leading partners
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Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Duncan Liddell

Other key lawyers

Nigel Parr, Euan Burrows, Neil Cunighame, Anna Morfey, Steven Vaz, Edward McNeill, Danica Barley, Christopher Eberhardt, Laura Carter, Natasha Gromof