Sarah Smith
DLA PiperDLA Piper is regularly entrusted by high-profile corporations to lead their challenging standalone or follow-on competition disputes. CMA or European investigations, competition litigation, merger control and compliance matters are all routine facets of the firm's active practice. The pharmaceutical and sporting sectors are a particular areas of strength for the group. Sarah Smith is capable across EU and UK competition law as well as in relevant regulatory matters. Matt Evans and Sam Szlezinger both regularly support their clients before the European Commission and the CMA. Alexandra Kamerling frequently acts for listed and private companies, venture capitalists, and trade associations.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘Sam Szlezinger has enormous experience of competition law disputes and brings calm and authority to every case. Our client, a large and well-known organisation, trusted his advice implicitly.’
‘The team is brilliant at picking up an instruction, getting to grips with it and doing an initial assessment, and then joining a meeting to ascertain any further information and deliver the advice within the same session. They communicate and collaborate very effectively with us as an in-house legal team but also with our commercial stakeholders, who really appreciate the fact that receiving advice from DLA can be very formal when required but can also be informal when appropriate.'
‘Sam Szlezinger really stands out for me. He is extremely knowledgeable and can give an easy to understand summary of the legal position, but he also understands the business needs of those instructing him and is able to provide practical advice taking into account the specific facts of a situation.'
‘Strong understanding of CAT procedure and general litigation.'
‘Sam Szlezinger is personable and really cares for his clients.'
'DLA have responded with great aplomb, including sending a director to the overseas territory, who performed brilliantly and obtaining an opinion from a very well regarded KC, both in the UK and in the EU. ’
‘DLA have provided a consistently good service, introducing new team members when appropriate and responding knowledgeably and promptly even when our requests may be months apart.'
Key clients
- Lupin
- Heineken UK
- Premier League
- Flybe
- Football Dataco
- Bacardi
- Warner Bros. Discovery
- Consolis Group
- Formula 1
- Erith
Work highlights
- Acted for Football DataCo in its long running dispute concerning the conditions under which live league match data can be collected.
- Acting for Lupin in its long running appeal against the European Commission's 'perindopril' decision.
- Secured 33% reduction in fine relating to CMA paroxetine antitrust investigation.
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Sarah Smith