Judicial review with a commercial or regulatory element is at the heart of Monckton’s Administrative and Public law specialism. The rare combination of commercial and public law expertise on offer at Monckton means our members have a leading reputation and act in the most complex and high-profile challenges.

Our members accept instructions to provide advice and representation across the range of regulated sectors. They are regularly instructed in judicial reviews relating to:

• Aviation, road and rail regulation
• Energy and utilities regulation
• Healthcare and pharmaceutical regulation
• Telecommunications regulation

Our practitioners work on behalf of both claimants and defendants, acting for companies, regulators and affected third parties to ensure their clients’ rights and interests are protected. A large number of our members are appointed to the Attorney General’s ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘PIL’ Panel of Counsel, from which they represent clients including Secretaries of State and central government agencies in challenges to their decisions (click here to see panel members).

Members of this practice group are able to bring to their commercial and regulatory work their expertise in related areas of law including consumer law, competition, data protection, human rights, EU law and EU Relations law, public procurement, tax and duties.

Monckton Chambers is widely recognised as a pre-eminent set in the field of State aid law. We have experience of representing claimants and defendants in proceedings before domestic courts and tribunals in which an allegation of unlawful State aid has been made, as well as of acting for both complainants and respondents in EU State aid investigations, and in challenges to Commission decisions before the Community Courts.

Members are regularly instructed to advise potential aid recipients, their competitors, and government bodies on the lawfulness of proposed financial and other measures raising State aid concerns.

Our members’ expertise in procurement, local government, public and tax law makes them ideally placed to advise on State aid issues arising in the contexts of procurement, taxation and regulation. Other contexts in which our members are frequently instructed on State aid matters include media/broadcasting, regeneration schemes, infrastructure projects, public-private partnerships, rescue and restructuring aid, environmental measures, and financial services.

Members write regularly on State aid law in the European State Aid Law Quarterly and other legal journals, while Monckton practitioners are the authors of chapters on State aid in: Bellamy & Child, European Community Law of Competition; Korah, Competition Law of the European Community (LexisNexis); and Bacon, European Union law of State aid.

Members have also given oral and written evidence to various House of Lords and House of Commons Select Committees on State aid issues.

Please click for information on our wider competition law practice.

Monckton Chambers has unrivalled expertise in the fast track procedure for competition claims before the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Barristers from Monckton Chambers represented both parties in the only fast track claim to have proceeded to trial to date. You can read news items about the case here, and a case note discussing the judgment here.

The fast track is designed to offer a fast and cost-effective way for victims of competition law infringements to bring their claims to court. Specifically the fast track guarantees that:

• The hearing will take place within six months; and
• The costs are capped, so the exposure to paying the other side’s costs is limited.

The Tribunal decides which claims are suitable for fast track. A claim is more likely to be considered suitable if:

• The claimant is a small business;
• The claim is relatively simple; and or
• The claim does not require extensive disclosure of documents, or a large number of witnesses.

A claimant might ask the Tribunal for an order that the anti-competitive behaviour must stop, or for compensation for losses it has suffered as a result of it.

Please call the clerks on 020 7405 7211 for a confidential discussion of your case.

Monckton Chambers is acknowledged as a pre-eminent set in all areas of competition law.

We offer specialists at every level of seniority, to suit every type of competition law case. Our members are recognised leaders in their field, who consistently appear in the leading competition cases in both the European and domestic courts.

Members offer advice and representation in:

• Private follow-on actions for damages in the High Court or Competition Appeal Tribunal;
• Stand-alone actions in the High Court for damages and injunctions;
• Intellectual property disputes raising competition law issues (including fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND));
• Multi-party international actions (including those raising conflict of laws issues).

See individual barristers’ CVs for details of members’ recent and significant cases.

Uniquely at the bar, Monckton Chambers offers a team of merger control experts, recognised as leaders in their field, with extensive experience in guiding transactions successfully through investigation and appeal.

Our barristers have advised on many of the most complex and difficult merger investigations and appeals in recent years, both at UK and EU level, advising merging parties as well as intervenors and regulators.

We offer advice on all stages of the review process, from initial planning to notification, advocacy before the regulator and, where necessary, an appeal. We can offer strategic input and support to an existing team, or put together a team to offer a full service solution.

Our publications include:

• Lindsay & Berridge, “The EU Merger Regulation: Substantive Issues”, Sweet & Maxwell, 5th ed, 2017, described by a leading partner in a review as a “masterpiece”.
• Dabbah & Lasok, “Merger Control Worldwide”, Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed, 2012.
• The merger control section of “Weinberg & Blank on Takeovers and Mergers”, Sweet & Maxwell, 5th ed, 2017.

Monckton Chambers is acknowledged as a pre-eminent set in all areas of competition law.

We offer specialists at every level of seniority, to suit every type of competition law case. Our members are recognised leaders in their field, who consistently appear in the leading competition cases in both domestic and European courts.

Members offer advice and representation at all stages of regulatory’ investigations and in subsequent appeals and reviews of decisions, including:

Administrative proceedings

• Competition investigations by the Competition and Markets Authority, European Commission, and by the sectoral regulators (including the use of “dawn raids” and other investigatory powers, applications for leniency, written and oral representations, negotiating early resolution and the making of complaints).
• Merger inquiries by the Competition and Markets Authority, European Commission and other merger authorities (including merger submissions, oral hearings and negotiation of remedies). Further information can be found on our Merger Control page.
• Market investigations by the Competition and Markets Authority.

Judicial review

• Applications for appeal or review to the Competition Appeal Tribunal against decisions of the Competition and Markets Authority or the sectoral regulators (including decisions relating to infringements, rejections of complaints, mergers, and market investigations).
• Judicial review of regulatory decisions in the Administrative Court.
• Appeals to the General Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union against decisions by the European Commission.

See individual barristers’ CVs for details of members’ recent and significant cases.