James Marshall

James Marshall advises on all aspects of competition law and sector regulation and regularly counsels clients on merger control, investigations and enforcement, commercial deals, abuse of dominance, sector regulation, and compliance. Earlier in his career, Mr. Marshall worked with the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), where he helped develop the UK’s antitrust and regulated sector enforcement regimes. Clients turn to Mr. Marshall to help them find innovative solutions to complex antitrust enforcement, merger and counselling matters, particularly in regulated sectors.

Mr. Marshall represents clients before UK, EU, and global regulators across a number of industries and has particular expertise in the infrastructure, energy, transport and utilities sectors. He has also advised on numerous complex global financial services cases, and has strong experience advising in the consumer, digital, communications, and sports sectors.

Mr. Marshall practiced for several years in the Asia-Pacific region. He has experience advising on competition, regulatory, and public policy issues in Asia and the Middle East.

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Emerging Trends in UK Competition Law Vlog Series – Part II: Enforcement and Litigation

Covington’s four-part video series offers snapshot briefings on key emerging trends in UK Competition Law. In part two, James Marshall and Sophie Albrighton focus on current trends in enforcement and litigation. They are joined by guest speaker Louise Freeman, co-chair of Covington’s Commercial Litigation and European Dispute Resolution Practice Groups, who has extensive experience representing … Continue Reading

Emerging Trends in UK Competition Law Vlog Series – Part I: Merger Control

By James Marshall and Sophie Albrighton on May 14, 2021 Posted in Competition Law in Europe, Mergers, United Kingdom

Covington’s four-part video series offers snapshot briefings on key emerging trends in UK Competition Law. In the first part, James Marshall and Sophie Albrighton focus on current trends in merger control. They are joined by guest speaker Louise Nash, Corporate Partner in Covington’s London office with over 20 years’ experience of global acquisitions, divestitures and complex commercial transactions. No time … Continue Reading

Proposals published for radical overhaul of UK competition regime following Brexit

By James Marshall, Sophie Albrighton, Grace Kim and Summreen Mahween on March 9, 2021 Posted in Competition Law, Regulation, United Kingdom

On 16 February, John Penrose MP published his long-awaited report into the UK’s competition regime. Penrose was tasked by the UK Government with reviewing how the UK’s competition regime can: Play a central role in meeting the challenges of the post COVID-19 economy and in driving recovery. The Government’s Policy Paper stated that “the pandemic … Continue Reading

UK Supreme Court lowers the bar for collective actions

By Louise Freeman, Harry Denlegh-Maxwell, Johan Ysewyn, James Marshall and Peter Camesasca on December 11, 2020 Posted in Competition Law, Damages, United Kingdom

The UK Supreme Court has today ruled in favour of Walter Merricks, the former head of the UK Financial Ombudsman Service., in a hotly-anticipated judgment in the first opt-out competition class action brought in the UK. Background Mr Merricks is the proposed class representative for 46.2 million people who, between 22 May 1992 and 21 June … Continue Reading

UK CMA Published Recommendations for the Regulation of Digital Markets

By James Marshall and Thomas Reilly on December 11, 2020 Posted in Competition Law, Digital, United Kingdom

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has published advice to the UK Government on the design and implementation of a new regulatory regime for digital markets. The new regime, if implemented, will apply to certain digital businesses that are designated as having Strategic Market Status, or “SMS”. It will provide for ex ante regulation … Continue Reading

UK FDI: National Security and Investment Bill is Published

By James Marshall, Greg Lascelles and Katherine Kingsbury on November 13, 2020 Posted in Foreign Direct Investment

Major Development in UK Foreign Investment Law and Policy The UK government has published long-awaited draft legislation that, if made law, will introduce significant new powers to scrutinise Foreign Direct Investment (“FDI”). The National Security & Investment Bill (the “NSI Bill” or the “Bill”), is proposed to introduce mandatory filing obligations and pre-clearance requirements for … Continue Reading

UK is left out of EU cooperation on Foreign Direct Investment, and will soon be “foreign”

By Peter Camesasca, James Marshall, Katherine Kingsbury and Greg Lascelles on September 14, 2020 Posted in Competition Law, Foreign Direct Investment

The EU Regulation on Foreign Direct Investment (2019/452) (the “EU FDI Regulation”) will enter into force fully on October 11, 2020. Most notably, on this date, a cooperation and information sharing mechanism among Member States and the European Commission in respect of foreign direct investment (“FDI”) that has an ‘EU-dimension’ will come into effect. As … Continue Reading

UK Introduces Targeted New Powers to Scrutinise Foreign Investment

By James Marshall, Greg Lascelles, Katherine Kingsbury and Peter Camesasca on June 24, 2020 Posted in Foreign Direct Investment, United Kingdom

On June 22, 2020, the UK Government introduced legislation to Parliament that further strengthens its ability to intervene in transactions on national security and other public interest grounds. Specifically, the UK Government has sought additional powers to intervene in transactions where there is need to preserve the capability of the UK to respond to a … Continue Reading

Competition law in the time of coronavirus: UK regulators’ response and approach to the COVID-19 pandemic

By James Marshall and Grace Kim on April 7, 2020 Posted in Competition Law, COVID 19, Enforcement, United Kingdom

As we now enter the third week of lockdown in the UK, this blog post rounds-up the steps that the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and certain other regulators have taken to address the unprecedented challenges facing the country. This includes targeted relaxation of certain elements of the rules to facilitate essential forms of … Continue Reading