Former Chairman of UK Competition Commission Peter Freeman Joins Cleary Gottlieb
October 18, 2011
International law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP announced today that Peter Freeman CBE, QC, former Chairman of the UK’s Competition Commission, will join the London office on November 1, 2011.
Mr. Freeman joined the Competition Commission in May 2003, becoming its Deputy Chairman in September 2003 and its Chairman in January 2006, before retiring in July 2011 after concluding the review of the BAA Airports case. Before joining the Commission, Peter headed the EU and Competition Law Group of Simmons & Simmons, where he was a partner for 25 years.
“We are delighted to welcome Peter to the firm,” said Cleary Gottlieb managing partner, and U.S. antitrust partner, Mark Leddy. “He is one of the best-known and most experienced antitrust lawyers in the UK, and will complement the existing strengths of our London competition practice.”
Mr. Freeman joins partners Maurits Dolmans, Romano Subiotto QC, and Nicholas Levy in the London competition team as a senior consultant.
Maurits Dolmans comments: “The London competition practice has really taken off over the past year. We are dealing with a wide variety of matters under UK and EU law, from merger control to horizontal and vertical agreements and unilateral conduct, in a range of industries. We have a great team including Paul Gilbert, former Deputy Director of Competition Policy at the OFT, who joined us last year. We are all very excited about Peter’s joining us and are greatly looking forward to working with him and to enabling our clients to benefit from his tremendous expertise and depth of experience.”
Peter Freeman comments: “I am delighted to be associated with the operations in London, Brussels and world-wide of such a distinguished and highly-regarded firm as Cleary Gottlieb. I look forward to contributing to its further success.”
Mr. Freeman read history and law at Trinity College, Cambridge, followed by a Masters in European law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He co-founded the Regulatory Policy Institute in Oxford and was its Chairman until 2007. He was joint General Editor of Butterworth’s Competition Law until 2006 and a Consulting Editor
subsequently. In 1999, he co-authored “A Guide to the Competition Act 1998.” He is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Competition Law Journal, the International Competition Law Forum, St Gallen, the ESRC Research Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia and the Review of Competition and Regulation, Lisbon. He is also a member of the Council of the University of Bath.
In March 2010 he was appointed Honorary Queen’s Counsel, and in June 2010 was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. On September 1, 2011, Peter was appointed to the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal as an ordinary member.
About Cleary Gottlieb’s Competition practice
With more than 60 years of experience on both sides of the Atlantic, Cleary Gottlieb’s antitrust practice provides clients with unparalleled global competition strategy to match their business and legal needs. Clients benefit from our in-depth experience and longstanding commitment in the jurisdictions in which we practice. One of the few global firms with an equally strong and recognized antitrust practice in Europe and in the United States, Cleary Gottlieb offers clients a unique transatlantic perspective that is invaluable in today’s increasingly borderless business landscape.
The firm has an important and growing London-based competition practice that works closely alongside the firm’s premier practices around the world. Recent matters include merger control cases such as advising Lafarge in the Competition Commission’s investigation of its proposed joint venture with Anglo American’s Tarmac business, and advising Google on its acquisition of BeatThatQuote; OFT investigations into the sale of ebooks and a market study into the UK aggregates industry; Competition Commission cases, including the ongoing “Movies on Pay TV” investigation, where we represent The Walt Disney Company; and litigation cases, including representing KME in defense of a follow-on claim brought before the English High Court.
Mr. Freeman joined the Competition Commission in May 2003, becoming its Deputy Chairman in September 2003 and its Chairman in January 2006, before retiring in July 2011 after concluding the review of the BAA Airports case. Before joining the Commission, Peter headed the EU and Competition Law Group of Simmons & Simmons, where he was a partner for 25 years.
“We are delighted to welcome Peter to the firm,” said Cleary Gottlieb managing partner, and U.S. antitrust partner, Mark Leddy. “He is one of the best-known and most experienced antitrust lawyers in the UK, and will complement the existing strengths of our London competition practice.”
Mr. Freeman joins partners Maurits Dolmans, Romano Subiotto QC, and Nicholas Levy in the London competition team as a senior consultant.
Maurits Dolmans comments: “The London competition practice has really taken off over the past year. We are dealing with a wide variety of matters under UK and EU law, from merger control to horizontal and vertical agreements and unilateral conduct, in a range of industries. We have a great team including Paul Gilbert, former Deputy Director of Competition Policy at the OFT, who joined us last year. We are all very excited about Peter’s joining us and are greatly looking forward to working with him and to enabling our clients to benefit from his tremendous expertise and depth of experience.”
Peter Freeman comments: “I am delighted to be associated with the operations in London, Brussels and world-wide of such a distinguished and highly-regarded firm as Cleary Gottlieb. I look forward to contributing to its further success.”
Mr. Freeman read history and law at Trinity College, Cambridge, followed by a Masters in European law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He co-founded the Regulatory Policy Institute in Oxford and was its Chairman until 2007. He was joint General Editor of Butterworth’s Competition Law until 2006 and a Consulting Editor
subsequently. In 1999, he co-authored “A Guide to the Competition Act 1998.” He is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Competition Law Journal, the International Competition Law Forum, St Gallen, the ESRC Research Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia and the Review of Competition and Regulation, Lisbon. He is also a member of the Council of the University of Bath.
In March 2010 he was appointed Honorary Queen’s Counsel, and in June 2010 was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. On September 1, 2011, Peter was appointed to the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal as an ordinary member.
About Cleary Gottlieb’s Competition practice
With more than 60 years of experience on both sides of the Atlantic, Cleary Gottlieb’s antitrust practice provides clients with unparalleled global competition strategy to match their business and legal needs. Clients benefit from our in-depth experience and longstanding commitment in the jurisdictions in which we practice. One of the few global firms with an equally strong and recognized antitrust practice in Europe and in the United States, Cleary Gottlieb offers clients a unique transatlantic perspective that is invaluable in today’s increasingly borderless business landscape.
The firm has an important and growing London-based competition practice that works closely alongside the firm’s premier practices around the world. Recent matters include merger control cases such as advising Lafarge in the Competition Commission’s investigation of its proposed joint venture with Anglo American’s Tarmac business, and advising Google on its acquisition of BeatThatQuote; OFT investigations into the sale of ebooks and a market study into the UK aggregates industry; Competition Commission cases, including the ongoing “Movies on Pay TV” investigation, where we represent The Walt Disney Company; and litigation cases, including representing KME in defense of a follow-on claim brought before the English High Court.