England - London • Dispute resolution
Mishcon de Reya LLP
Predominantly acting on the claimant side, the ‘smart, agile, and user friendly’ team at Mishcon de Reya LLP acts in a variety of claims before the Competition Appeal Tribunal, including collective opt-out claims, and also represents a number of notable companies, including Creditfix Limited, Asda, and Ocado. Practice head Sarah Houghton is ’extremely hardworking’, and handles a wide-range of collective and follow-on claims; and Ben Lasserson regularly appears before the High Court, among others, in abuse of dominance disputes concerning big tech companies. ‘Excellent’ and ‘knowledgeable’ managing associate Zachery O’Brien has a great deal of expertise in public procurement, often advising online and high street retailers; whilst managing associate Gwen Ballin-Reeler frequently represents class representatives and property development companies.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Mishcon know how to manage complex disputes to a successful outcome. And they are approachable and a pleasure to work with as well.’
‘Sarah Houghton has an excellent pedigree and, again, is not phased at all by the complexity of the cases she is running.'
- 'Zachery O'Brien is an excellent senior associate, knowledgeable, calm under pressure, and approachable.’
‘Ben Lasserson is a very able collective actions lawyer and a pleasure to work with. He is supported by an excellent team.’
‘Commercially astute, with excellent attention-to-detail and great sector expertise. Ben is a standout partner.’
‘The competition team is smart, agile, and user friendly. It offers a bespoke service to individual clients and is diligent and well-led.’
‘Sarah is very able, extremely hardworking, thoughtful, and brimming with ideas. She leads a team of solicitors with a steady hand and with emotional intelligence. She delivers an excellent service to individual clients and in collective proceedings. She has helped establish the competition team as a very highly regarded participant in the largest and most cutting-edge competition cases.'
- 'Zachery contributes very helpful ideas and offers diligent work. He is on top of the detail and is a very effective resource.’
Key clients
- Creditfix Limited
- Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd
- Asda
- Wilko
- Curry's
- Iceland
- John Lewis
- Foxglove Legal Interest Community Company
- IWG Plc & Regus Group Services Ltd
- Camelot
- Lakeland
- Ocado
- Ryman
- Tombola
- Whitbread
- McMullen
Work highlights
- Advising the class representative, Justin Le Patourel, in certified collective proceedings in the UK against BT for abuse of its dominant position in the market for landline services, which has trial listed for January 2024.
- Acting for Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd, Iceland Foods Ltd, Wilko, Curry's, Asda, and The John Lewis Partnership (including Waitrose Limited) in private damage claims against the Trucks cartelists before the CAT.
- Advising the class representative on behalf of a class of 1.6m individuals in an opt-out representative action against Google UK and DeepMind Technologies Ltd.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Leading individuals
Sarah is a partner in the firm's dispute resolution department, specialising in UK & EU competition law. She is experienced in acting for both claimants and defendants in complex, high-profile cases involving competition law based claims or defences. She advises on both strategic and legal issues associated with litigation, such as choice of forum and reputational issues.Sarah represented Microsoft in its cartel damages claims against Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Sanyo and LG Chem. Sarah also represented Sainsbury's in its successful claim against MasterCard, the highest damages recovered in a European competition damages claim. Sarah has also been advising two former directors of companies involved in separate investigations by the Competition and Markets in the construction and pharmaceuticals sector, for breach of competition warranties and aspects of individual liability. She assists businesses that find themselves under investigation by Competition Regulators, and those concerned about the way their affairs may have been conducted, e.g. attending dawn raids, advising on defence strategies and assessing potential civil liabilities.Sarah regularly undertakes competition law audits and provides training and compliance materials to businesses. She also advises on the competition law aspects of transactions and commercial agreements, including ways to structure agreements and alter commercial behaviour to minimise competition law risks.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Sarah Houghton