Nicholas Khan KC

Call: 1983 | 2024 (Ireland) | Silk: 2018

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    Introduction

    Nicholas Khan KC has returned to full time private practice after a long career as a member of the Legal Service of the European Commission, marked by being the only lawyer to have taken Silk while working in a European Union institution.

    As a member of the Commission’s Legal Service, Nicholas advised on many areas of EU law and represented the Commission in hundreds of cases before the EU Court of Justice and also in a number of interventions before the English Courts in State aid and Competition cases.

    Nicholas has appeared in many cases that have been fundamental to the development of EU law, such as:

    • Cases C-271/91 Marshall v Southampton Area Health Authority (No.2) and C-453/99 Courage v Crehan (both on effectiveness of remedies),
    • Case C-68/93 Shevill v Presse Alliance (allocation of jurisdiction in defamation cases),
    • Case T-289/03 BUPA Ireland v Commission (State aid for services of general economic interest),
    • Case T-167/08 Microsoft v Commission (penalties for non-compliance with a Commission competition Decision)
    • A long series of cases central to the development of Article 102 TFEU (Case T-286/09, C-414/14 P and C-240/22 P Intel Corporation v Commission, Cases T-612/17 and C-48/22 P Google Shopping, T-604/18 and C-738/22 P Google Android, and T-334/19 Google AdSense).

    Nicholas advised the Commission on the EU Damages Directive for claims based on infringements of EU competition law and represented the Commission in several interventions before the English Courts in damages proceedings relying on infringements of EU competition law, including:

    • Deutsche Bahn and Others v Morgan Advanced Materials [2014] UKSC 24
    • Sainsbury’s Supermarkets and Others v Visa Europe Services and Mastercard Incorporated [2020] UKSC 24.
    • News
    • Competition law

      Nicholas has represented the Commission in dozens of State aid cases before the EU Court of Justice, relating notably to the relationship between State aid control and tax harmonization (Case T-60/06 and C-369/16 P Eurallumina v Commission) and financing of services of general economic interest (Case T-289/03 BUPA Ireland v Commission). He also represented the Commission at all stages of the Micula proceedings in the English Courts concerning the enforcement of an Investor-State ICSID arbitration award which was the subject of a Commission Decision finding that payment of the award would amount to unlawful State aid, culminating in an appeal to the Supreme Court (Micula and Others v Romania [2020] UKSC 5).

      Antitrust and mergers were the focus of Nicholas’s work in recent years, and he therefore remains subject to certain restrictions to avoid conflicts of interest, his main matters having included:

      • Various cartel cases, such as; Gas insulated Switchgear, Power Cables and Air Freight
      • The many stages of the Intel case (Case T-286/09, C-414/14 P and C-240/22 P Intel Corporation v Commission)
      • All three of the Google cases (Cases T-612/17 and C-48/22 P Google Shopping, T-604/18 and C-738/22 P Google Android, and T-334/19 Google AdSense) which have been central to developing the application of Article 102 to digital markets
      • The multiplicity of proceedings arising from the Illumina/Grail merger, (Cases T-127/21 and C-611 and 625/22 P (on jurisdiction under Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation), Cases T-755/21 and T-5/23 (interim measures), Case T-709/22 (prohibition Decision), Case T-591/23 (gun-jumping Decision) and Case T-1190/23 (divestment Decision).
    • EU law

      Nicholas has appeared in many cases beyond the field of competition law, such as sex discrimination, free movement of persons, the Brussels Convention/Regulation on civil jurisdiction and judgments, and anti-dumping, including:

      In anti-dumping and trade defence measures, Nicholas represented the Commission in over twenty cases before the EU Court of Justice, such as Case C-337/09 Council and Commission v Zhejiang Xinan Chemical Industrial Group (WTO transition rules for China).

      Nicholas has also successfully defended many damages actions brought against the EU institutions before the Court of Justice, over a wide range of EU activity, such as: Cases T-485/93 etc. Dreyfus and Others v Commission, Case T-429/04 and C-419/08 P Trubowest v Council and Commission, Case T-540/18 ASL Aviation v Commission, Cases T-834/17 and C-297/22 P United Parcel Service v Commission and even claim for damages made before the High Court, in Tomanovic v European Union [2019] EWHC 263 (QB).

      In relation to the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, Nicholas represented the Commission as an intervener in a post-Brexit judicial review concerning the Home Office’s arrangements for enforcing rules on the rights of EU nationals to remain in the UK; Independent Monitoring Authority v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3274 (Admin).

    • Publications

      Nicholas is the author of the 6th Edition of Kerse and Khan, EU Antitrust Procedure (Sweet & Maxwell) and the 2nd Edition (with Wolfgang Mueller and Tibor Scharf) of EC and WTO Anti-Dumping Law: A Handbook (OUP).

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