Our annual half-day conference in London will feature a distinguished group of academic, regulatory and industry leaders in dynamic conversation.
A decade ago, economists were instructed to quantify damages once the legal issues had largely been settled. Today, in collective proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), economic analysis informs funding, certification, liability, and damages alike. Judicial expectations have risen alongside, most visibly in the CAT’s Practice Direction on Expert Evidence.
The programme will centre on a new white paper from Cornerstone Research, ‘Quantum Mechanics: The Evolving Role of Economic Evidence in UK Competition Disputes.’ The paper draws on interviews with senior competition litigators in London acting for claimants and defendants and considers the implications of the Practice Direction for how economic evidence is deployed and scrutinised.
The event will also feature Richard Feasey in a fireside chat following the opening panel. Mr. Feasey will offer his reflections on nearly a decade as a CMA Panel Member and Inquiry Chair for Phase 2 merger reviews, market inquiries, and regulatory appeals.
Please email events@cornerstone.com with questions.
The Evolving Role of Economic Evidence in UK Competition Litigation
Speakers will discuss the role of economic evidence across the lifecycle of a collective claim, and what the Practice Direction means for high-value disputes. Topics include:
- Methodology under scrutiny: The Tribunal has emphasised the need for analysis grounded in the factual record. How does this influence assessment when competing methodologies can produce materially different answers from the same facts?
- Proportionality and cost: Reports run to hundreds of pages and expert teams can work for years on a single matter. Support is growing for restraint in what some practitioners have characterised as an expert arms race.
- Process: How will proposals regarding age limits, methodology statements, and joint reports influence the deployment and assessment of economic evidence through the life of the case?
- Scrutiny of the expert: How will the Tribunal’s focus on independence influence the choice and scrutiny of experts, and what are the implications for developing the next generation of testifying experts?
Featured Panellists
- Deba Das, Freshfields
- Helen Davies KC, Brick Court Chambers
- Anthony Maton, Hausfeld
- Tim Ward KC, Monckton Chambers
- Sarina Williams, Linklaters
Moderator: Liam Colley, Cornerstone Research
Fireside Chat with Richard Feasey: Perspectives on Merger Control and the CMA’s Independent Panels
Richard Feasey spent close to a decade as a Panel Member and Inquiry Chair at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), sitting on or chairing numerous Phase 2 merger reviews, as well as market inquiries and regulatory reviews.
Mr Feasey will join Andrew Swan of Cornerstone Research to discuss how CMA panels weigh economic evidence in merger inquiries and test economic submissions against the commercial and factual record, as well as proposed reforms to the CMA’s independent panel model.
Mr Feasey also served as an adviser to the UK Payment Systems Regulator and the House of Lords EU Sub-Committee. As a director at Vodafone for twelve years, he engaged with regulators and competition authorities on market regulation, mergers and antitrust across Europe, the US, and Asia.
London
