Group Chair
Luke Streatfeild
Partner, Hausfeld
Luke is a competition litigation specialist and has acted on some of the largest and most complex competition litigation matters in recent years, including bringing and defending major collective proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal, and advising a group of leading financial institutions in relation to the litigation and settlement of multi-party actions in the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the High Court.
He has extensive knowledge of the collective proceeding’s regime under the Consumer Rights Act and is part of the Hausfeld team representing Justin Gutmann in bringing the first ever standalone claim under this regime. Luke was also part of the team representing Duncan McCann in the proposed representative action in the High Court, brought on behalf of children and parents in England and Wales, for breach of data protection rules by YouTube. Furthermore, Luke possesses extensive experience in complex international litigation, arbitration, and cross border insolvency proceedings.
He joined Hausfeld from Allen & Overy LLP where he was a senior associate in their competition litigation practice. Committed to defending civil liberties and human rights, Luke has an active pro bono practice. He also undertook time on secondment at Liberty.
Luke has acted for a range of governments, financial institutions, financial corporations and high net worth individuals in advancing and defending high value claims in the High Court, and in ICC, LCIA, LMAA and ECT arbitral proceedings.
Group Committee
Matthew Hunt
Associate, Bristows
Matthew specialises in EU and UK competition law. He advises on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious competition law matters and ‘FRAND’ standard essential patent licensing disputes.
Matthew has been involved in a number of high-profile, high-value cases for clients in the technology and life sciences sectors. He was a member of the team representing Samsung in the Unwired Planet FRAND litigation and ZTE in the Conversant FRAND litigation and has also been involved in a number of claims issued by IPCom. He regularly advises both SEP holders and implementers in licensing negotiations on topics such as FRAND offer methodology and anti-suit injunctions. Matthew has also acted for Google in abuse of dominance claims and for a pharmaceutical company in a claim involving post-patent expiry royalties.
Matthew is experienced in helping companies respond to investigations and requests for information issued by regulators. He has also worked on a number of merger matters. This has included successfully challenging the government’s attempt to intervene in the sale of a minority stake in the Evening Standard and the Independent to overseas investors, as well as making submissions to the regulator in respect of mergers such as Amazon/Deliveroo.
Matthew regularly advises on competition law issues arising out of distribution, licensing and settlement agreements across all sectors. He also gives advice and training on competition law compliance, and regularly writes for a number of different publications.
Jack Jewell
Legal Counsel, Bravura Solutions
Jack is legal counsel at a multinational software company. He advises on a variety of technology contracts and international outsourcing agreements. He also has expertise in data protection and information security matters. Prior to working in-house, he worked in the corporate department of a regional law firm advising on a wide range of corporate and commercial matters including M&A, corporate finance and franchising.
Katherine Kirrage
Partner, Osborne Clarke
Katherine is a highly experienced competition lawyer, with a strong focus on digitalisation and competition in tech markets. She also leads Osborne Clarke’s Publishing group and is a Transformation Manager for Digitalisation.
Katherine’s transformation and sector focus flows through into her work, with recent experience including advising on the UK Competition and Markets Authority market study into digital advertising; the European Commission’s Internet of Things sector inquiry and the Payment Systems Regulator’s first competition investigation in the payments sector. She has also advised on leading tech mergers in the UK, EU and beyond.
Katherine has a strong focus on ‘future proofing’ clients’ business models in an environment of rapidly evolving competition law and she frequently helps clients from a range of industries engage in consultations, Government engagement and lobbying work, underpinned by her deep technical knowledge and strategic approach.
Simon Latham
Investment Manager, Omni Bridgeway
Simon Latham is an Investment Manager based in Omni Bridgeway’s London office where he is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, negotiating, and monitoring investments through to resolution. Simon has a particular focus on competition/antitrust disputes and collective redress across the UK and Europe. Simon has arranged financing for multinationals, class representatives, law firms and SMEs.
Widely regarded as a thought leader in the industry, Simon’s expertise has been recognised by The Legal 500 (Litigation Funding) and Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders. He is a frequent speaker and panelist on the topics of litigation funding, competition litigation and collective redress and was formerly the editor of The Third-Party Litigation Funding Law Review.
Prior to joining Omni Bridgeway, Simon was Head of Competition investments at another global litigation funder. Before his career in funding, Simon was a solicitor at Hausfeld in London, acting exclusively for claimants in competition and commercial litigation, often across multiple jurisdictions. He holds an LLM in intellectual property law and a postgraduate diploma in competition law from King’s College
Laurence Page
Barrister, 4 Pump Court
Laurence Page is a leading commercial and infrastructure advocate, whose practice includes some of the highest value and most complex litigation and arbitrations currently before the English courts, the DIFC and DIAC.
He is recognised as a “tier 1” barrister by Legal 500 and Chambers in Middle East disputes, encompassing a significant domestic and international commercial and professional negligence practice. He has acted in some of the largest Commercial Court shareholder and fraud disputes of recent years including Skatteforvaltningen v Solo Capital Partners LLP, described as “one of the largest and most complex pieces of litigation to be heard in the Commercial Court”, and a multi-billion dollar shareholder DIFC-LCIA arbitration.
Much of Laurence’s work focuses on large-scale, frequently multi-party disputes concerning emerging technologies. He has acted in major disputes concerning start-ups in new satellite technology, food delivery apps, direct-to-consumer optical services, horticultural lighting, dark kitchens, carbon capture and storage and spread betting. His wider energy and infrastructure experience has included natural gas shipping contracts, bitumen import/exports, sea-wall defences, and (allegedly) the world’s largest privately-owned fish-tank. Laurence frequently appears as sole advocate in heavy arbitrations and litigations, whilst also being led by KCs on very high profile disputes.
In addition to appearing in cases before the English Commercial Court, Technology and Construction Court, and Court of Appeal, Laurence appears regularly before the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts and the Qatar International Court. Laurence has a particular focus on disputes in the Middle East; his work takes him to the region most months.
Anastasia Stepanova
Trainee Solicitor, Norton Rose Fulbright
Anastasia Stepanova is part of the City Consortium Programme and is a trainee at Norton Rose Fulbright. She obtained a first-class law graduate from King’s College London. Previously, Anastasia undertook research for the Open Rights Group on the future of the UK’s Data Protection regime, and was Chief Editor for Technology Law and Policy within SCL’s student journal. Anastasia’s interests lie in how competition law intertwines and evolves with law on platform liability.
Charlie Xie
Director, AlixPartners
Charlie is a seasoned antitrust economist with 15 years of experience working with clients in both Asia and Europe on a number of high-profile cases. He is the leader of AlixPartners’ Chinese Economics Practice and has assisted his Asian clients on antitrust investigation, litigation, and intellectual property cases. In the UK and Europe, he has extensive experience in litigations in the English High Court and the UK Competition Appeals Tribunal, and he has engaged in regulatory cases, antitrust investigations, and mergers. Previously, Charlie was with the Office of Communications and Charles River Associates. He did his PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science and remains a guest lecturer at the school. He divides his time between the UK and China and speaks fluent Mandarin and English.