Russell McVeagh draws considerable praise from clients for its ‘practical and pragmatic’ advice and ’unmatched’ expertise. The team handles a wide range of prominent competition and antitrust matters, including market studies, merger filings, litigation, and investigations across various industries. The ‘exceptional’ Troy Pilkington heads the practice and is noted for his ability to handle the full gamut of work, acting for clients in the grocery, media, banking, and telecommunications sectors. Bradley Aburn has extensive experience in supporting clients with competition investigations, joint ventures, competitor collaborations, merger control approvals, and market power issues in New Zealand, the UK, and the EU. The ’dedicated’ Petra Carey is a key port of call for clients seeking guidance on the clearance process for domestic and global M&A transactions and cartel investigations.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The team is purely focussed on trade practice law and issues and has great knowledge, networks and energy.'
‘Great focus, excellent attitude and effort. Troy Pilkington is exceptional. I believe he is the best trade practice lawyer in NZ.’
‘Broad and deep expertise in the area, and committed to achieving client's goals, including by pulling together other resources as appropriate to achieve them.’
‘Highly intelligent and focussed, Troy Pilkington and Petra Carey in particular are dedicated, and manifest a clarity of expression in all that they do consistent with achieving the necessary outcomes. ’
‘The Russell McVeagh Competition Law team's industry expertise is unmatched and their ability to be fully across any issues or guidance that relates to our business has been hugely valuable.'
'When we have any complex competition law matters that arise, the team's advice is always incredibly practical and pragmatic which, as a result, allows us to have huge faith in their judgement. ’
‘Troy Pilkington is an excellent operator and has done an amazing job at establishing a reputation for always being just a phone call away for any advice needed. He has an amazing ability to respond promptly in a completely considered manner irrespective of his commitments and huge workload.'
'Troy Pilkington is an invaluable part of our broader team and such has been the value he's delivered that we currently wouldn't consider using another adviser for competition law purposes. ’
Key clients
- Woolworths New Zealand Limited
- MBCC Group
- News Publishers' Association of New Zealand
- Meridian Energy Limited
- Microsoft
- Mobil Oil New Zealand
- Carter Holt Harvey
- Fonterra Co-operative Group
- Spark
- Holcim
- Queensland Investment Corporation Private Capital
- Fisher Funds New Zealand
- Sanford
- Authentic Brands Group LLC
Work highlights
- Advising Meridian Energy on its proposal to build the world’s largest green hydrogen plant in Southland ("Southern Green Hydrogen project").
- Advising the News Publishers Association media company on its successful authorisation application to collectively negotiate with Facebook and Google to secure fair compensation to individual publishers for the content appearing on digital platforms.
- Advising Microsoft on its application to the Commission for clearance for its acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. as part of a global transaction.
Lawyers
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Troy Pilkington