Adam Labbett-Ainsworth Associate

Adam Labbett-Ainsworth is a lawyer based in our London office and is a member of the Antitrust and Competition practice group.  Adam advises clients in a wide range of industries in relation to all aspects of EU and UK competition law, including merger control and the behavioural competition rules, at both the European Commission and national competition authority level.

Previously, Adam worked at the Office of Fair Trading as a competition law policy adviser.  His experience at the Office of Fair Trading included attendance at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in relation to appeals in the construction industry bid-rigging case, analysing the competition law compliance initiatives of businesses, drafting sections of the Office of Fair Trading’s report “Drivers of compliance and non-compliance with competition law”(OFT 1227),  and assessing the OFT’s Competition Act 1998 investigation procedures.

Recent Publications

N Dimopoulos and A Labbett-Ainsworth, The demise of the de minimis exception and rise to the fore of an upfront exemption for small mergers – A proposal to deregulate, Competition Law Journal Vol. 11, Issue 1, 2012, [2012] Comp Law 44

A Labbett-Ainsworth and O Graber-Soudry: Defence Procurement,  The European Antitrust Review 2012 (a GCR special report).

Representative Experience

• Advising Atlas Copco Limited in obtaining unconditional clearance from the Office of Fair Trading in respect of its acquisition of the medical gas division of Penlon Limited, which involved the use by the Office of Fair Trading of certain aspects of its new guidance on exceptions to the duty to refer.
• Advising several clients in relation to Office of Fair Trading inquiry letters regarding completed mergers.
• Advising Eaglemoss and Aurenis Group, before the Office of Fair Trading, on the unconditional clearance of its acquisition of GE Fabbri.
• Advising an international company in relation to a European Commission polyurethane foam cartel investigation.
• Advising a media agency in relation to the European Commission’s allegations of antitrust violations by Google.
• Assisting on multi-jurisdictional merger control notification aspects (including national competition authority filings in the EU and CIS) of a transaction involving US multi-national businesses.
• Assisting a global airline in relation to the European Commission airlines fuel surcharge decision.
• Advising on the merger control and competition law rules in relation to joint ventures in the financial services, energy and chemicals sectors, respectively.
• Advising a telecoms operator on a third party submission to the regulator regarding a merger involving competitors.
• Conducting competition law compliance and dawn raid training programmes and advising on dawn raid programmes (including devising and undertaking mock dawn raids).
• Advising INEOS Chlor Limited before the OFT and the Competition Commission on the anticipated sale of its packaged chlorine business and assets to BOC Limited.
• Advising clients on the competition law aspects of commercial transactions and the application of the behavioural competition law rules to different areas of their business.