Capitalising on its extensive global network, the team at CMS, praised by clients for its ‘pragmatic and commercial’ advice, is well versed in the full gamut of UK and EU competition matters, particularly excelling in the digital, media, energy, and pharmaceutical arenas. The team is led by the ’quick witted and commercial’ Brian Sher, who maintains a busy practice, acting on a range of high-profile contentious and non-contentious competition matters across the EU and UK. The ‘outstanding’ Neil Baylis, who joined the team from Mishcon de Reya LLP in 2023, regularly advises on complex mergers and investigations.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
'Neil Baylis is an outstanding competition law lawyer.'
‘Neil Baylis has a knowledge of association competition law which is second-to-none.’
‘Advice is pragmatic and commercial. Teams are well resourced with advice being provided in a timely manner.’
‘Brian Sher - quick witted and commercial, with good understanding of CMA politics.'
'Kabir Garyali - inspires confidence. Good attention to detail and client management skills.'
'Neil Baylis - a heavy hitter.’
Key clients
- Alliance Pharma Plc
- BAE Systems
- BBC
- BT Plc
- Cadent Gas
- CEMEX
- Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
- Dentsu
- The Premier League
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Jaguar Land Rover
- Leicester City Football Club (LCFC)
- Microsoft
- Octopus Group
- Northern Ireland Water
- ParentPay / ESS
- Reach
- SSE
- Thomson Reuters
Work highlights
- Advising Jaguar Land Rover in relation to parallel investigations by (i) the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) under the Competition Act 1998 and (ii) the European Commission under Article 101 TFEU.
- Acting for Microsoft, a defendant in a standalone claim brought by a second-hand software reseller claiming damages and injunctive relief for infringement of the Chapter II Prohibition of the Competition Act 1998.
- Advised Education Software Solutions (ESS) (part of the ParentPay Group) on an international range of strategic competition advice, incuding in relation to the CMA’s competition enforcement investigation which commenced in April 2022 and has been resolved by way of ESS offering a set of commitments to address the CMA’s concerns.
Lawyers
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Brian Sher